If the University of Arkansas was hosting Nevada this Saturday, it would be very different.
Granted, it is still 94 days away, and there is still hope that there will be more normalcy and less positives from coronavirus testing.
Most of the 31,000 who renewed their season tickets are expected, and several thousand who bought a single ticket are hoped for.
And thousands might buy a first-game ticket to see Sam Pittman and his staff’s efforts.
However, if the last 94 days are an indicator, the next 94 days are not going to change things drastically.
Here’s a guess at how that Saturday — if there is a game — will be different.
First, the person in the Razorback Foundation who has to deal with parking passes will be smiling all day long.
That is one of the most stressful jobs off the field because everyone wants better parking, but not everyone can have better parking.
Parking is so important that several years ago a longtime season-ticket holder would sell his extra tickets and throw in a parking pass in The Pit lot.
Everything went well for a couple of years until one of the parking lot attendants asked the people, who were there to pull for Tennessee, where they acquired the parking pass.
It came with the tickets, they told him. Well, he said, it is not a real parking pass. It was a copy machine duplicate.
The season-ticket holder was admonished by Harold Horton, who handled parking before becoming the head honcho of the foundation. When Horton was promoted, he joyfully handed that chore to Norm DeBriyn.
The point is, parking is a pain for the Razorback Foundation because most of it is remote.
There also would be no ticket scalpers. Anyone holding up tickets for sale paid their hard-earned money for them.
There will be a lot less tailgating, and tailgaters will have fewer issues with vendors who try to take over their spot, or at least encroach.
The game atmosphere won’t be as good. Even in the last few years when there was obviously less than 40,000 on hand, Reynolds Razorback Stadium could be loud and proud.
The configuration of the seats will be odd because there is absolutely no way you can keep all students out of the game. An exact number is not known, but on-campus students should be a priority.
There won’t be long lines at the restrooms.
Concessions may finally get it together. Hopefully with only 31,000 on hand, vendors won’t run out of bottled water like they have the past two years for the first game. Sometimes the second and third games, too.
After the game, the traffic should be a breeze, which is only the case during a blowout because people leave before the game is finished.
On a personal level, there will be less media if social distancing is enforced. In the press box, we are all facing the field and not each other, so maybe something like an empty chair between everyone would work.
Or, they might not allow the media, which would be a drastic and costly measure for the program.
It is going to be very interesting to see how many visiting media members are credentialed, and not just in Fayetteville but for the other schools, especially Alabama.
What also will be different is how much more disciplined the Razorbacks are, and how much better prepared.
The 2020 Razorbacks are going to be better than the two previous teams.
So, some fans may hope to be there who didn’t renew their tickets, but for now — just as it has been for weeks — no one knows for sure.