The Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners officially became members of the Southeastern Conference on Jul. 1, with SEC media days taking place this past week, it finally feels real.
The Longhorns will play a new schedule with games against the likes of the Georgia Bulldogs and the Florida Gators. They even have an out-of-conference trip to Ann Arbor to take on the defending national champion Michigan Wolverines. However, the old rivalry games against former Southwest conference foes, the Arkansas Razorbacks, and Texas A&M Aggies excite people.
Texas and Arkansas have only met once in the past ten years coming back in 2021. It was Steve Sarkisian’s first year with the Longhorns and Sam Pittman’s second year with the Razorbacks when Arkansas thumped Texas in Fayetteville 40-21. While Sarkisian was at the podium for media days on Wednesday, he spoke about the rivalry with the Hogs recalling how awesome of an environment Fayetteville was.
However it was Sarkisian’s comment about the Arkansas faithful that caused a stir on social media as he said, “I think I almost at times feel like they hate Texas more than they like themselves. That’s a real rivalry.”
Fortunately, Pittman and the Razorbacks had their opportunity to respond at media days on Thursday where Pittman said he agreed with Sark about Arkansas hating Texas more than liking themselves saying,
“Well, I will say this: We hadn’t played Texas for years and we played them a couple years back. It was the most excited our fan base has been in a while. So I would say he’s probably right, you know. The difference is Texas is certainly a different team than what we played. That was his first year there and now obviously he’s a great coach, great guy. Got a wonderful football team. But I’m glad that we’re going to play them at home again. You know, I don’t know if that’s fair because they came there two years ago. But it’s an early-morning game, so — but he’s probably correct.
You would have to ask the old hats of Arkansas, but he’s probably right.”
Steve Sarkisian created a small stir when he said he thinks Arkansas fans hate Texas more than they like themselves.
Sam Pittman's response this morning? Sark's right. #HookEm #SECMD24 pic.twitter.com/O2vZGR2MUe
— Bob Ballou (@BobBallouSports) July 18, 2024
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