For Arkansas fans, it would be confident the biggest rival besides former SWC opponents (Texas, Texas A&M), and the Ole Miss Rebels, are the Louisiana State (LSU) Tigers. It is a rivalry that extends back to the early 1900s of college football. It is one in which originated the current nickname for Arkansas' athletics (previously known as the Cardinal) after a 1909 shutout (16-0) of the Tigers, where Arkansas coach Bezdek stated the team "played like a wild band of razorback hogs!" Since then, the Tigers and Razorbacks had played almost yearly in stretches in Shreveport, LA or Little Rock, AR. Other times it was bowl games, tense ties, or a dropped game for a potential national title (1966 for instance). After a 30 year break, it was only after Arkansas joined the SEC in 1991 did the rivalry resume, and in 1996 was the "Golden Boot" trophy introduced as a reward for the winning team. Every year since until 2013, this particular rivalry game had been played each college football season during "rivalry week," usually during Thanksgiving weekend and giving way to very memorable moments. The 2002 and 2008 Miracle on Markham, the 2007 3-OT thriller, the 2006 game, 2012, and 2013 are just few among many games fans of both sides of this rivalry can remember for good or bad reasons. It is also a rivalry that feels natural for the history and tension this brings for both fanbases. 

However, after Texas A&M (TAMU) and Missouri (Mizzou) joined the SEC 2012 from the Big 12, this rivalry has been changed for the worse. With the change in conference alignment, the SEC had decided to make LSU a rival of TAMU, and Arkansas a rival of Mizzou (the "Battle Line Rivalry") with a "new" trophy to boot for the latter in the 2014 season during rivalry week and from then on. For the latter, this rivalry feels as manufactured of a rivalry as one can make. There had only been five previous matchups between Mizzou's Tigers and the Razorbacks prior to the "Battle Line Rivalry" versus the 37 meetings between LSU and Arkansas before 1992. While the "Battle for the Boot" is still played yearly in SEC play, it has been scheduled further and further back into the schedules for LSU and Arkansas as time has gone on. Among many Arkansas fans, there is almost an apathy about Mizzou as a rival, as does not help that Arkansas has only won two of these "rivalry" games since 2013. For LSU, while has had some history with TAMU and reason to play them in rivalry week, once Oklahoma (OU) and Texas joined the SEC in 2024, LSU has now been forced to play against OU instead of TAMU, who now plays against Texas. This in practice has become a mess for almost all schools involved, and one in which the SEC is capable of fixing.

If the SEC wants to keep the "Battle Line Rivalry" for Mizzou-Arkansas, please schedule it earlier in the college football season, switch Arkansas' rivalry week opponent with LSU, and schedule Mizzou for OU for said week, as the last two programs have had many matchups in Big 8/12 history. In this way, it makes more sense for geographical and historical purposes, while also giving fans what had been the norm prior to recent CFB conference realignments.

In summary, Arkansas and LSU would be in agreement that the "Battle for the Boot" makes more sense as a rivalry week game instead of the current scheduling in place. Because of historical meetings prior to the SEC affiliation, the memorable matchups since the introduction of the Golden Boot, and the mutual dislike of these two programs outside the games themselves, it is only right that the "Battle for the Boot" should reintroduced as a rivalry week game in future scheduling of SEC football games.