Apparently Nobody Thinking How Razorbacks Target Texas
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It's starting to become interesting just how much everybody is overlooking Arkansas' game with Texas. Granted, the Longhorns are coming off an appearance in the college football playoffs and the Razorbacks stumbled through a season.
Regardless of the records, though, it will be the one game even casual Hogs' fans will find a way to attend. The tailgating will be big. A lot of Arkansas fans can just bring their supplies with them from the deer camp as the biggest sport in the state starts a week or so prior to that game.
It could be a ray of hope for Sam Pittman's team that has a ton of questions with no answers coming until at least mid-September. At least they will have a game on the schedule they'll know is a big deal unless they completely live in a bubble these days.
Texas is probably already having it in the "win" category. A story at LonghornsCountry.com pointed out the obvious with an early road game at Michigan and the mid-season annual war with Oklahoma in Dallas being the headliners on their schedule. They just view the Hogs right now as a chance to get folks healthy for the postseason.
Arkansas Razorbacks fans giving the "Horns Down" gesture during a game with the Texas Longhorns in 2021 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.
Craven Whitlow / allHOGS Images
Some of the biggest upsets in the history of the rivalry happened when they played for decades the week after the Longhorns played the Sooners. Looking past the Razorbacks has been tricky ground for the folks down in Austin.
In 2014, two 6-6 teams showed up for the Texas Bowl in Houston. The Longhorns, their coaches and fans had little interest in that game and got thumped. The same thing happened in 2003 when Matt Jones led the unranked Razorbacks into Austin and came away with a 38-28 win that wasn't really that close.
You want to say playing in Fayetteville will help, but remember Earl Campbell beat the Hogs in 1977. No. 1 Texas got the help of an opportunistic ignored facemask penalty when quarterback Ron Calcagni was yanked to the ground. That was a huge play in the second half of a 13-7 game in Razorback Stadium when the Hogs finished the year No. 3 in the country.
You can go back further, though, the Longhorns in 1971 came into Little Rock ranked No. 10 in the country and got kicked sideways (31-7) in maybe Joe Ferguson's best game ever.
Once or twice is an accident. There are several more incidents over the many years they met before the Razorbacks took off to the SEC. Arkansas fans lose their minds whenever they see Texas on the schedule. Longhorns' fans have never gotten that worked up over the whole game.
Texas Longhorns running back Roschon Johnson (2) is stopped short go the goal line by Arkansas Razorbacks linebacker Bumper Poole (10) at Razorback Stadium. Arkansas won 40-21.
Nelson Chenault / USA TODAY Sports
By the time these teams play on Nov. 16, nobody knows what the records will be or even who will be playing. That's going with the statistical chance for injury somewhere along the way. These days it's not even a guarantee of who the coach might be by then.
Of course, there's always a risk former athletic director John Barnhill's warning to Frank Broyles when he moved the Texas game from October to Dec. 6 in 1969, "be careful, you could wind up playing for the championship of Washington and Travis counties."
That could be the case again. Longhorns' fans, among the cockiest fan bases in the country (which I kinda like), already have it in the "win" column making these ridiculous projects for a season now. After all, we still have a transfer portal coming up and there will be some coming and going. It's the world we live in now.
At least Razorback fans will get the Longhorns on the football schedule consistently. That's enough to get 'em interested for at least one week a year, guaranteed. How Pittman develops this team will determine whether they are playing for anything remains to be seen.
HOGS FEED:
WITH SEASON ON THE BRINK, ERIC MUSSELMAN AMKING STYLISTIC CHANGES IN RAZORBACKS' OFFENSE
MAYBE THE TIME HAD FINALLY COME FOR AN APPARENTLY UNINTERESTED DEVO DAVIS TO STEP AWAY
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