FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tailgating at college football games is exciting and even competitive across the country. The most loyal of Razorback fans dedicate a lot of time and money into creating a memorable game day experience for their friends and families.
"The one thing about tailgating is you always want to be the guy with the newest and best idea,” said longtime hog fan Brandon Stroope.
Good tailgaters take a big tent and an even bigger spread. Great tailgaters take a little innovation. With a love for Halloween, Stroope waited outside a Northwest Arkansas Home Depot at 5 a.m. to buy one of the hottest Halloween lawn ornaments of 2020. It wasn’t long before he decided to take that 12-foot skeleton to his tailgate party outside Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
"My little girl and I just got up in the back of the truck and people were just looking [at us]. And just didn't understand what was going on. We finally started putting him together piece by piece. And people's eyes just blew up. They were just amazed by it,” said Stroope.
Stroope said during the winning game against the Texas Longhorns, at least 50 Razorback fans stopped by the skeleton to take a photo for social media. That’s how this show-stopping tailgate got on THV11’s radar!
Stroope and his family are still working out names for the skeleton but he’ll have a “friend” at the next home game.
"I actually have another one. I found another one so I've got two of them now so maybe at our next game we'll have an old school Felix Jones jersey on one and a McFadden jersey on the other one."