Tailgating zone is busy (4:50)

Kickers are warming up on the field at Turpin Stadium but the socializing is already at full swing in the Demon Zone Tailgating Area.

There is a significantly bigger tailgating crowd here than at the same time for last week's season opener. Some of that can be traced to the Military Day observance as there is a large crowd at the National Guard tent. No doubt the Freshman Family Day event is also contributing. But I've seen tailgating groups in place this week in locations where they weren't last week.

There is also plenty of purple to be seen. Central Arkansas has purple as its primary color, with silver as a secondary color. THe Bears uniforms look a bit like the Rice Owls unis, if you sub in purple for the dark blue. THey also resemble an older version of TCU's uniforms, from what I saw on TV many years ago.

Northwestern's shade of purple is officially PMS 267. UCA's purple is PMS 268. The game could be just as close. For some reason, I got a heavy vibe of overtime this afternoon. Maybe it's because when I was home having lunch and getting ready for the game, I watched Army and Rhode Island go OT, and Miami (Ohio) and Minnesota played three OTs. The home team won both games. Now there's a trend Demon fans would appreciate continuing.

We're excited here in the press box seeing old friends. Our stat crew princess, Stacy Morgan, is back with us. Stacy Mo has been the heartbeat of the crew since her undergraduate days in the 1990s. She spent the summer working a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp in North Carolina, and was in Mexico on Labor Day weekend at an FCA event.

Also back with us a little later will be our first-ever assistant SID, Tommy Newsom, and his wife, Lady Demon tennis great Vickie Simms Newsom. Tommy came to NSU as a graduate assistant in 1991 and we were able to create an assistant SID job a year later. The Newsoms, and their three kids, live in McKinney, Texas, just around the corner from Demon baseball All-America pitcher Reggie Gatewood and his wife, the former Tamara Webb (oldest daughter of Dr. Randy and Brenda Webb). Ironically, the Newsoms and Gatewoods have boys entering the third grade in the same class.

Good also to see Sam Schacter, the former KTBS TV sportscaster now in his third year as assistant commissioner of the Southland Conference for marketing. Shack is here coordinating the SouthlandTV live video streaming. d

Doug Ireland, SID