On Saturday, Nov. 16, the Texas Longhorns and the Arkansas Razorbacks will meet in Fayetteville in a critical late SEC matchup.
The last time these two teams met in 2021, the game gave Texas a matchup to forget and Arkansas one to repeat. In head coach Steve Sarkisian’s second-ever game wearing burnt orange, the Razorbacks manhandled the Longhorns in Fayetteville to win 40-21.
Although not the first time clashing, the first matchup between the two was all the way back in 1894, with a resounding 54-0 victory by Texas. The Longhorns lead the all-time series with a record of 56–23.
While there have been almost 80 matchups between the two, none of them is more famous than the 1969 game. Dubbed “The Game of the Century” by many, the No. 1 Longhorns defeated the No. 2 Razorbacks to capture the school’s first football national championship. Former U.S. President Richard Nixon attended the game alongside politicians George H. W. Bush and John Paul Hammerschmidt. To this day, the game has the highest rating ever recorded for any football game with roughly half of all American TV sets tuned in.
History aside, there are a number of fresh and exciting storylines surrounding the Razorbacks as they gear up for the 2024 season. Perhaps the most contentious of them is the murky future of Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman. After going a dismal 4–8 and 1–7 in conference play, many consider Pittman to be in the hot seat as he enters his 5th season.
Another factor outside of the head coach that could really make or break the Hogs’ season is the performance of new quarterback Taylen Green, a redshirt junior transfer from Boise State. Green, who is under the tutelage of new hire offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Bobby Petrino, brings a true dual-threat to this Arkansas offense.
“He demands a lot out of this position,” Green said about Petrino in an interview with Pig Trail Nation. “But he gives me a lot of room and a lot of freedom about why I make decisions and stuff like that.”
Assisting Green all season will be the battle-tested Arkansas wide receiver room, which did not lose a single pass-catching player from last year to the draft or the portal. Headlined by redshirt seniors Andrew Armstrong and Tyrone Broden, this room is chock-full of threats destined to create matchup nightmares for opposing secondaries.
The biggest area of emphasis during the offseason for the Razorbacks was the offensive line. Arkansas brought in four offensive line transfers and the unit is expecting massive improvements from one of the worst offensive lines in school history a season ago.
The Hogs and Horns have a long and rich history. This old-school rivalry will meet modern college football in what is destined to be a grueling, physical matchup.
