The Battle Line Rivalry between Arkansas and Missouri is not the most storied rivalry in the SEC.

It’s also one of the least tenured. The 2 teams met sparingly before Missouri’s move to the SEC in 2012, seeing the 2 meet every season as cross-division opponents starting a couple seasons after. Both have won over 10 conference championships, though neither has won a single SEC championship (despite playing for the title 5 times between the 2). Obviously, Arkansas came from the Southwest conference and Missouri the Big 12.

And still, the rivalry has seen some great games and has been played on Rivalry Week each season since 2014. This year, Missouri will be battling against its border rival for bowl eligibility, sure to add yet another chapter to the exciting series.

To get you ready for Week 13, here are 10 things every fan should know about the Battle Line Rivalry between Missouri and Arkansas.

1. Trophy and history

The Battle Line Rivalry is named as such because of the state border that divided the North and South during the Civil War. The first trophy, a 4-foot tall outline of the 2 states made of silver with “Battle Line” written along the border, was awarded in 2015, 1 year after the rivalry was officially introduced.

Missouri has taken home the trophy 5 times in 7 meetings since, including a 5-game win streak from 2016-2020. Arkansas, for those paying attention, won the first and most recent meetings with the trophy on the line.

2. Missouri leads the way all-time

Of course, the series has not just been the past 7 years. Missouri and Arkansas played sparingly from 1906-2008 before the formal introduction of the rivalry.

The Tigers lead the all-time series 9-4, with a 3-2 record in non SEC vs. SEC matchups. Only one of those non-SEC matchups has been a blowout (See No. 3 below).

3. Bowl battles

Missouri and Arkansas have met twice before in bowl games before Missouri’s move to the SEC – once in the 2003 Independence Bowl and once in the 2008 Cotton Bowl Classic.

A 9-4 Razorbacks team downed an 8-5 Missouri team 27-14 in the Independence bowl, but Mizzou running back Tony Temple outdueled Darren McFadden in the Cotton Bowl, rushing for 4 TDs to lead the Tigers to a commanding 38-17 win – just the 2nd Cotton Bowl win for the Tigers in their history.

4. Lucky No. 13

The Tigers and Razorbacks have played just 13 times, the least of any of the current Rivalry Week matchup in the SEC.

Only 1 of those games has been a ranked matchup for both teams, the 2008 Cotton Bowl Classic listed above.

5. Game No. 1

The 2 teams first met in 1906, when football could only be loosely described compared to its modern version. Missouri took the opening bout in Columbia by a score of 11-0.

The Tigers finished that season 5-2-1 while Arkansas finished 2-4-2.

6. Black Friday

The rivalry has been played on Black Friday since it was formally introduced in 2014. It’s alternated sites, changing between Fayetteville and Columbia (and once in Little Rock, see No. 8) since, only not being played on Black Friday once in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

7. 2020 barnburner

And that 2020 matchup was intense, the highest scoring of the series and the most contested matchup in rivalry history.

The Tigers trailed the Razorbacks by 14 points in the 4th quarter led by freshman quarterback Connor Bazelak (now at Indiana). The Tigers rallied in the 4th quarter, taking a 7-point lead before surrendering it, finding themselves down 1 after a 2-point conversion by KJ Jefferson and Arkansas.

Bazelak led the Tigers down the field, setting up kicker Harrison Mevis for a game-winning field goal for a final score of 50-48. The 2 scores are the most scored by either team in series history.

8. War Memorial Stadium

Arkansas planned to play the game at its secondary site in Little Rock, War Memorial Stadium, for their half of the rivalry starting in 2019. The bout was played there just once before contract negotiations forced the game back to Fayetteville in 2021.

Missouri won that lone bout in Little Rock, 24-14.

9. Ranked matchup upsets rare

Of the 26 separate teams to take the field in the Battle Line Rivalry’s history, only 5 have been ranked: 1963 Arkansas, 2008 Arkansas, 2008 Mizzou, 2014 Mizzou and 2021 Arkansas. Of course, the AP poll was introduced in 1936, though neither of the 1906 teams were worthy of a ranking.

Only once has a ranked team lost to an unranked team in the series, when unranked Missouri downed No. 8 Arkansas in 1963. The Tigers ended that season with a better record than Frank Broyles’ squad, which fell to 5-5 after being unable to recover to the loss to the Tigers.

It got better for Arkansas after that though. Broyles led the Razorbacks to an 11-0 record the year following, defeating No. 6 Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl. The AP voted before the end of the game, giving Alabama the title of No. 1 in the country and the National Championship. However, as Arkansas was the only undefeated team in the nation, the FWAA (Football Writers Association of America) crowned the Razorbacks the national champions.

10. Longest streak, largest margin of victory

Missouri owns the longest streak in series history at 5 games from 2016-2020. The Tigers also have the largest margin of victory, a 38-0 thumping of the Razorbacks in 2018.

Arkansas’s largest margin of victory is 25 with a 28-3 win in 2015. The Razorbacks have never won 2 games in a row against Missouri, though that could change this season.