LSU and Arkansas to Continue Tradition of Playing Friday After Thanksgiving

The LSU vs. Arkansas game, which has been played on the Friday after Thanksgiving 14 of the last 16 years, routinely provides college football fans a nice appetizer before rivalry weekend. The Battle for the Golden Boot, which has become a Black Friday tradition, will again be played in its customary spot in 2012.

LSU announced Wednesday that the two teams will kick off their 2012 meeting at 2:30 p.m. ET in Fayetteville, Ark. The game will be televised by CBS, and will take place in Fayetteville for just the second time ever. Arkansas typically has held its game versus LSU at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

This is where this game belongs. 

CBS got creative in 2009 and 2010 and put the annual Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn in the Friday time slot, and it worked. CBS reported a 92 percent increase in viewership in the 2009 game, according to ArkansasSports360.com, when Alabama escaped Auburn with a win en route to the national championship. The next season, Auburn roared back from a 24-0 deficit to top Alabama 28-27 en route to a crystal football of its own.

Those two games boosted the visibility of the time slot, but putting the nation's premier rivalry on during the middle of a weekday—even when a lot of people aren't working—isn't the best business decision. 

Crazy things happen in the Battle for the Golden Boot. We've seen two "Miracle on Markhams," triple-overtime thrillers and generally fun football between two teams whose rivalry recently became renewed when the SEC expanded in 1992. The game deserves its own stage, especially considering that SEC West title implication may be on the line in 2012.

At least for one more year, it'll get it.