What Arkansas Wants Most from Texas Goes Beyond Respect

John Ridgeway, Arkansas football, Texas football, SEC Media Days
photo credit: Arkansas Athletics

At SEC Media Days this week, Sam Pittman agreed with Steve Sarkisian, a fact that in and of itself won’t win him more defenders as head coach of the Arkansas football team. That Pittman agreed with a Texas football head coach about Arkansas fans’ tendency to dispense hate more than self-love? Well, it should be an interesting season off the field for the Razorbacks, anyway.

Pittman, heading into his fifth year at the helm of the Hogs, is in a make-or-break year. Few coaches in the country have a seat as warm as his. A particular segment of the fan base already wants him gone, what with his replacement serving as offensive coordinator. Another portion think athletic director Hunter Yurachek would be crazy to hire Petrino and/or Petrino has limited desire to run a ship again, what with the NIL and transfer portal and all the responsibilities associated. Petrino does seem to legitimately love the fewer responsibilities that come with coordination. Fewer cortisol spikes go over better with the grandkids, likely:

Pittman and Razorbacks are coming off a frustrating 4-8 season that saw last year’s OC, Dan Enos, fired halfway through the season. All-American quarterback KJ Jefferson chose not to return, as did All-American running back Rocket Sanders. Outside of that win at Florida, they struggled even when healthy enough to play. A lackluster recruiting class (Arkansas ranks 11th in the SEC in portal recruiting and 15th in high-school recruiting; there are 16 teams in the SEC) suggests a 4-8 season is a stronger possibility than an 8-4 one, a mark Arkansas has reached a total of one time since 2011. 

Agreement about Arkansas vs Texas SEC Media Days

First, ESPN college football play-by-play man Joe Tessitore said it. Sarkisian followed it during Texas’ appearance at SEC Media Days on Wednesday. The assertion?

Arkansas football fans hate Texas more than they love themselves. Pittman thinks they were right.

“We hadn’t played Texas for years and we played them a couple years back,” Arkansas head man said. “It was the most excited our fan base has been in a while. So I would say he’s probably right, you know.”

Little Man Syndrome. Inferiority complex. Whatever you want to call it, such a suggestion isn’t exactly new when outsiders – non-Arkansas fans – discuss the Razorbacks. Even some (many?) Hogs fans themselves carry such a disposition. Since Petrino wrecked his motorcycle, the Arkansas football team has suffered the same cursed fate. They’ve maxed at eight regular-season wins since the incident and have mustered a winning record in league play exactly one time in the span. 

What’s to love? Geography, I guess

Texas, meanwhile, has its own issues, issues that until now should have largely been overlooked by Arkansas faithful. After some down time in the Charlie Strong era, Tom Herman had the Horns competitive again. Sarkisian has turned them into a powerhouse, coming off a season that saw the burnt orange finish No. 3 in the nation. Since that Petrino wreck, the teams have met twice with Arkansas having won both times, most recently in 2021

But the rivalry of the Baby Boomers and elder Gen Xers no longer really exists. It’s been two generations since Longhorns fans have had to hate Arkansas. Not only has Texas had larger fish to fry, the two quit playing on a yearly basis when the Hogs jumped ship to the SEC in 1992. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say. 

So Who Can Arkansas Hate That Hates Them Back?

The Longhorns are in the SEC now and, thanks to the league’s new scheduling format, will play Arkansas every season for the foreseeable future. Yearly meetings could spark some legitimate modern animosity between the two fan bases, but considering Texas’ success and Arkansas’ lack thereof, if the Razorbacks don’t win regularly, it’s hard to imagine fans in the Lone Star State caring too much. Sure, an upset sideswiping Texas’ big-time dreams would likely make a difference here, but that must actually happen first. 

Arkansas already plays against LSU and Missouri for trophies in the Battle for the Boot and the Battle Line Rivalry. In the former, Hogs fans once again run into an opponent that feels less than pure hatred for Arkansas. LSU has been the superior program for 30 years and it hasn’t been terribly close, even if the Razorbacks have pulled a number of impressive upsets.

In the latter trophy game, neither Arkansas nor Mizzou claim the other one is a worthy adversary. Those Tigers have more of a claim than the Hogs, considering Arkansas has beaten Missouri just twice since 2014.

Arkansas’ other permanent opponent, Ole Miss, mostly just exists. The Rebels hate Mississippi State far more than Arkansas, and have waffled between SEC dreg (eight sub-.500 records in league play since the Petrino wreck) and SEC powerhouse (top-10 ranked at some point in each of the last three years, including two seasons finishing in the top 10).

Maybe that’s Arkansas’ best bet, seeing as how the Razorbacks have flirted with high-quality seasons here and there, the two schools have sometimes played memorable, hard-fought classics (like this one that ruined Ole Miss’ season, this  first-ever history-maker, this raucous shootout) and it’s hard to say how good Ole Miss would be without a coach like Lane Kiffin. 

Rivalries Are Ultimately A Fool’s Errand

Pittman need not fret himself over Arkansas’ complex. It existed before he arrived. It will exist once he leaves. If he had a deal that he could beat Texas, but the Hogs finish 5-7 or he could lose to Texas and the Hogs finish 7-5, he’d be crazy to take the first. Not only would a five-win season likely find him out of work at the end of it, yet another such slug would confirm Arkansas’ seemingly perpetual mediocrity. 

It would also suggest more to come: a team good enough to beat a blue-blood now and again, but not good enough to win with any sense of regularity, falling to teams below that upper tier, but only slightly above Arkansas’ own. That isn’t how programs found long-term success. 

To Pittman’s credit, he answered the question about Sarkisian honestly, per usual, and didn’t initiate the subject himself. He’s fully aware of what’s at stake for the Razorbacks in 2024 and beating Texas in a so-called rivalry game is only 1/12th of the picture. 

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More on Arkansas football and SEC Media Days here:

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Oklahoma might make a good rivalry with Arkansas, as Pittman talks importance of recruiting against Sooners here.

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