Bret Bielema, entire state of Arkansas upset with Michigan for canceling football series

By foxsports
Published

The college football world woke up to a surprising treat on Thursday, when it was announced that Michigan and Notre Dame would resume their rivalry starting in 2018. The series, which began all the way back in 1887, was last played in 2014 after a scheduling agreement between Notre Dame and the ACC went into effect. But now it is back and set to resume in just two seasons.

Yet while the news is great for fans of the Wolverines, Irish and college football in general, there is one disappointed party: Arkansas fans. Why? The Razorbacks were scheduled to play a home-and-home with Michigan in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, a series that is now cancelled with the renewal of Michigan-Notre Dame.

Michigan will reportedly pay Arkansas $2 million for the trouble of cancelling the series. But that hasn't stopped Arkansas from being upset about the situation.

That included coach Bret Bielema, who said this when asked about the series being cancelled:

Pretty tame by Bielema standards. At least until he was asked about how he'd spend that extra $2 million. Then he went full on Bielema.  

Man, oh man.

Obviously the "satellite camp in Cabo" is a little bit of a cheap shot at Jim Harbaugh (he of satellite camp infamy), but what folks might not realize is that the first comment was a minor jab, too. Know how Bielema called Michigan "one of his favorite teams in the Big Ten?" Yeah, that favorite team is one that he beat the final two times he played them when he was coach at Wisconsin — and did it by an average of over 20 points.  

Say this about Bielema: He's never afraid to take a dig at an opposing team, player or coach, even one as powerful as Michigan. But Bielema isn't the only one upset with Michigan's decision. Arkansas AD Jeff Long released a pretty sharp statement early Thursday morning, too:

And if that wasn't enough, Arkansas fans also got into the mix:

Heck even the most infamous SEC fan in the country, Harvey Updyke weighed in on this one.

Clearly the entire state of Arkansas isn't happy with the decision by Michigan to cancel this series.

But that's just part of the big business of college football.

Sure it would have been great to see these two teams on the field, but it's hard to argue with Michigan's logic of renewing a legitimate rivalry, which was one of the legitimately great games on the college football calendar every fall.