It’s Texas week, folks. The Longhorns and the Razorbacks will soon likely be playing every year in the SEC. For now, though, part of what makes this old rivalry so special is what used to be.
For this special series this week here on Razorbacks Wire, we’re going to count down the top five Arkansas-Texas games in history (note: for our purposes, history goes back to 1960 as anything before that can be awfully difficult to find details about).
Yes, the No. 1 game we will write about Saturday is no surprise. But you just might not guess the others.
Here is No. 4.
No. 24 Arkansas 27, No. 14 Texas 6 – 2000
Arkansas ended the 1999 regular season with a terrible loss to LSU in Baton Rouge. The Tigers were 0-7 in SEC play and had interim coach Hal Hunter lead the team to a 35-10 victory over the Hogs. It wasn’t exactly the ending the Razorbacks were wanting, but all was forgotten when they were matched up with Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
This would be the first time the Hogs would face off against the Longhorns since leaving the Southwest Conference in 1992. Both fanbases knew this was going to be an intense game due to Texas being bitter about Arkansas leaving and Arkansas just flat out hating Texas.
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The first half was a stellar defensive battle. Arkansas couldn’t convert drives into points and Texas was getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage. The game was tied at three heading into halftime and Hog fans were hoping that something could spark the offense to get them going in the second half.
All it took was a 30-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Clint Stoerner to All-SEC freshman running back Cedric Cobbs to bust the game wide open. The Hogs defense continued to suffocate the Longhorns by holding them to negative-27 rushing yards in the game. Meanwhile, Arkansas tacked on two more rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game away for good as the Hogs cruised to a 27-6 victory.
Arkansas finished the 1999 season 8-4 but it felt like the Hogs had just won a BCS Bowl game. Facing their old rival for the first time since leaving the SWC, in a familiar place like the Cotton Bowl, and beating them down defensively was a chef’s kiss to the end of the season.
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