Easiest Way Silverfield Can Win Hearts of Fanbase, Inject Juice Into Texas Rivalry Again
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – At its peak, there are few rivalries in all of college football better than Arkansas and Texas.
While lopsided on paper, the Longhorns have won 58 games in the series to the Razorbacks' 23, there may not be a fan base in the country that possesses real, genuine disdain for their rival as much as UA faithful does towards the University of Texas at Austin.
No matter what Arkansas' record is, a game against Texas is always appointment television. And there were times when contests between the Hogs and 'Horns were water cooler fodder across the country on Monday morning.
Arkansas' 1969 matchup with Texas, for example, was dubbed "The Big Shootout" and the "Game of the Century."
President Richard Nixon was in attendance for a game that was televised nationally on ABC from Razorback Stadium and resulted in a heartbreaking 15-14 Arkansas loss after Texas stormed back from a 14-0 deficit in the fourth quarter.
The win vaulted to Longhorns to the national championship and stopped Arkansas and Frank Broyles from claiming their second of the decade. Broyles famously never watched the tape of that game.
After Arkansas and Texas were no longer Southwest Conference rivals, their meetings became sparse. The two teams only played five times prior to the 2020s, with two of those matchups coming in bowl games. Arkansas beat Texas in the 2000 Cotton Bowl and 2014 Texas Bowl, respectively, as well as beating the 'Horns in Austin in 2003.
The most hyped matchup between the two long-time rivals in recent memory came in 2021, which was the first regular season meeting between UA and UT since 2008. Arkansas won 40-21 in a game that served as Sam Pittman's signal to the nation that Arkansas football was no longer a laughingstock.
But things have changed quite a bit in the nearly five years since that September evening in Fayetteville. Arkansas and Texas are back to being conference rivals, this time in the SEC.
Arkansas' stock has plummeted, with Pittman being fired in September 2025 and the Razorbacks coming off a 2-10 season. Texas, meanwhile, has found a long-term solution at head coach in Steve Sarkisian, who went 5-7 with the Longhorns in 2021 but has won at least 10 games over the last three years and taken Texas to the College Football Playoff twice.
Arkansas, obviously, is a rung or two below Texas on the current CFB ladder, as much as Razorback fans probably hate to admit it. First-year head coach Ryan Silverfield will have to go through hell and back to give the Hogs a chance to make a bowl game this season, much less compete for a 10-win season.
But what Silverfield could do even in a year that may not be chock-full of wins in order to get into the good graces of UA faithful is to inject some passion back into Arkansas' rivalry with Texas by fielding a team that shows it can at least compete with the Longhorns when they visit Fayetteville on Nov. 21.
The last two meetings between Arkansas and Texas have still been intriguing. Neither school likes the other very much. But the two contests, a 20-10 Texas win in Fayetteville in 2024 and a 52-37 UT victory in Austin last year, have also felt somewhat listless, as it's been clear that Arkansas is lagging behind what many fans would call its biggest rival.
No first-year head coach at Arkansas has beaten Texas since Jack Mitchell in 1955. Again, it's not necessarily likely that Silverfield's squad shocks the world and beats a Texas team that is likely to be in CFP contention and has a potential Heisman winner in Arch Manning under center.
But what Silverfield can do is show an understanding of the importance of the rivalry. Post on social media. Get former THV11 anchorman and B 98.5 host Craig O'Neill to make another phone call to the Texas athletic department to inform them that the grounds crew added an extra s at the end of Texas.
Even better, field a team that, at the very least, hasn't quit at the end of November in a year that may feature some choppy waters.
Because even if a win isn't on the table for Silverfield and the Razorbacks against Texas this fall, what should never fade away at the University of Arkansas is a burning passion to beat the Longhorns or go down trying.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/arkansas as Easiest Way Silverfield Can Win Hearts of Fanbase, Inject Juice Into Texas Rivalry Again.
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