Habe on the Horns
By Steve Habel/Associate Editor
If you ever get to Waco and have a few hours to spend, take the time to tour the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, a 35,000-square foot edifice dedicated to the sports, players and teams of the Lone Star State.
One of its most prominent displays there is an exhibit hall that chronicles the history of the Southwest Conference, and a large part of that area of the Hall is devoted to the rivalry between Texas and Arkansas in the days when most photos were in black and white and there was a real hatred between the two schools.
The Longhorns and Razorbacks [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]will renew that rivalry on Dec. 29 in the 2014 AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl, which will be contested in NRG Stadium in Houston. All of a sudden, everything that was old is new again – save for the two teams’ status among the upper echelon of teams in college football.
The Longhorns and Razorbacks played annually until 1991, the final year before the Hogs left the SWC for the Southeastern Conference.
Both Texas and Arkansas finished the regular season at 6-6, meaning the loser of the bowl game will have a sub-.500 campaign on its resume for the 2014 season. That’s a far cry from the records the two teams usually produced as members of the SWC, which imploded in 1996, with four of its former members joining with the members of the Big Eight Conference to form the Big 12.
This will be the 78th meeting between the Longhorns and the Razorbacks, including the second time in the postseason. The last meeting between the teams was a 52-10 Texas victory on Sept. 27, 2008. Arkansas beat Texas 27-6 in the 2000 Cotton Bowl, but the Longhorns lead the series 56-21, which dates back to 1894.
The Longhorns will be making their 53rd bowl appearance, the second-highest total on the NCAA all-time list. It’s also the third consecutive season that Texas’ bowl game takes place in the Lone Star State – the Horns played in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio in both 2012 (a win over Oregon State) and 2013 (a loss to Oregon).
“It will be a tremendous opportunity for our team to play in front of so many of our fans and especially for our seniors who will be doing it for the last time as Longhorns,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said. “We’ve been back at work and getting prepared for the bowl game and know Arkansas presents an unbelievable challenge.”
It’s best to ignore Arkansas’ break-even record. The Razorbacks played eight teams ranked in the top 17 when they lined up against them, finishing 2-6 in those games.
“Arkansas is a really good, physical team that has played their best ball in the second half of the season,” Strong said. “We look forward to getting to Houston and being a part of this great bowl.”
This will mark the Razorbacks’ 40th bowl appearance in school history, which is the 14th most in college football history, and they are 13-23-3 in their previous 39 appearances. This will be Arkansas’ first trip to a bowl game under second-year head coach Brett Bielema, who was just 3-9 (0-8 in the SEC) in 2013.
“We are looking forward to honoring the tradition of Razorbacks before us and putting on a great show in an outstanding venue against a prominent opponent,” Bielema said.
The Razorbacks, like Texas, were a terrific defensive team in 2014. While playing in the loaded SEC West, Arkansas allowed just 20.3 points per game (15th best in the country) even though it played eight Top-25 teams, including four in a row to end the season.
Arkansas’ running game ranks 28th in the country at 220.3 yards per game and sports two 1,000-yard rushers in Jonathan Williams (188 carries for 1,085 yards and 11 touchdowns) and Alex Collins (1,024 yards and 12 touchdowns on 187 totes). The Razorbacks’ quarterback Brandon Allen is also a potent weapon, amassing 2,125 passing yards with 18 touchdowns and just five interceptions.The Texas Bowl won’t be like the good old days of “The Game of the Century,” when Texas beat Arkansas 15-14 in a battle of unbeaten in the mist of a Fayetteville afternoon of Dec. 6, 1969. But the bowl game will be a battle between two teams on the upswing and craving to make a statement on that improvement.
Texas had to win four of its final six games to earn a berth in the postseason while Arkansas shut out LSU and Ole Miss on consecutive Saturdays in November to forge a bowl bid. Like the Longhorns, Arkansas was a few plays away from winning a handful more games – including a 14-13 loss to top-ranked Alabama and a 35-28 overtime defeat at the hands of Texas A&M.
Given the alternative (read: staying at home or spending the evening in the cold and wind of the Liberty Bowl in Memphis), the Longhorns should be happy to be playing in Houston. It’s another chance to prove themselves on a national stage and a natural step forward in the team’s rebuilding.
But it sure would have been nice to play the Aggies in Houston, wouldn’t it?
Just sayin’, ya know?
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