Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman knows what it's like for a MAC team to upset the SEC

In the pool table room of Sam Pittman's house sits a photo that serves as a memento of one of the greatest upset victories in the Arkansas football coach's career.

On Sept. 20, 2003, Northern Illinois walked into the University of Alabama and left with an astounding 19-16 victory over the Crimson Tide. Joe Novak was the Huskies head coach, with a 41-year-old Pittman in his first season as the Northern Illinois offensive line coach. After the win, Pittman and Matt Canada, the current offensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers who served in the same position at Northern Illinois, posed together under the Bryant-Denny scoreboard.

"Of course, we didn’t do anything in the game but we sure took a picture," Pittman said.

Twenty years later, Pittman will be the head coach against a team from the MAC for the very first time this week when the Razorbacks (1-0) host Kent State (Saturday, 3 p.m. CT) at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Pittman was an assistant in the MAC for seven years, including a brief stint at Western Michigan.

But most of his time in the league was spent under Coach Novak at Northern Illinois. Novak, who retired in 2007 and has the third-most career wins in program history, has no doubts that Pittman is familiar with the motivations Kent State will bring to Fayetteville on Saturday.

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"Before a game like that one, we'd ask everyone in the locker room to raise their hand if they got recruited by Alabama," Novak told the Southwest Times Record on Wednesday. "That was enough motivation when nobody raised their hand."

"We called them 'boneyard victories' when we would beat a Power 5. Those are the games kids from the MAC look forward to all offseason. A chance to show off that chip on their shoulder."

Northern Illinois recorded three 'boneyard victories' in 2003, beating Maryland and Iowa State in addition to Alabama. The Huskies went 10-2 and didn't get invited to a bowl game.

What Pittman remembers most from the win over Mike Shula and a Crimson Tide team that went 5-7 was the first preparation meeting of the week.

"Normally by 10 a.m. on Monday morning we’d have our whole run game in," Pittman said. "Coach Novak came in and he said, 'You don't have any runs on the board.' At 10 o’clock he was going to go over them with us. I said I don't like any. They were so good up front on the d line."

But when Saturday rolled around, Northern Illinois matched Alabama's rushing output behind eventual NFL star Michael Turner, who finished with 156 yards on 27 carries. Coach Pittman was a big reason for the Huskies' success.

"Sam Pittman is one of the finest offensive line coaches in the country," Novak said. "I think everyone was a little scared when we watched the film to start that week, but he and Matt Canada came up with a terrific game plan. We were conservative but effective. A lot of the credit goes to Sam."

Kent State (0-1) faces a monumental task trying to replicate that Northern Illinois upset this weekend.

The Golden Flashes lost to UCF 56-6 in their season opener. MAC teams are 13-104 all-time against the SEC. Arkansas will enter the contest favored by more than five touchdowns according to most sportsbooks.

Pittman's already been on the MAC side of an SEC upset. He doesn't want to go through the reverse experience, and that's been a key focus all week at Arkansas practice.

"Are we going to have to learn a lesson from us not playing our best ball, or are we just going to play our best ball and play against ourselves and not worry about the opponent," Pittman said.

"If you don’t get ready to play and don’t prepare, you’re going to get beat and we’re going to be one of those teams everybody in the country is talking about."

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Sam Pittman knows what it's like for a MAC team to upset the SEC