God is not neutral: The games that define Texas-Arkansas

Most Texas fans familiar with the Arkansas rivalry of the Southwest Conference days have probably heard the legendary story of the First Baptist Church in Fayetteville who put up the sign before the 1969 game that read, “Attention Darrell Royal—do not cast your steers before the swine.” It was Coach Royal’s response to the act that became the infamous part of the tale, “I thought God was neutral,” Royal said. But that game — which was played before President Richard Nixon and won Texas a national championship — and many others between the two foes showed that maybe God is not neutral after all.

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It’s been said, “Arkansas fans hate Texas more than they love themselves,” and a hatred like that is something embedded; it’s biblical, like something forged so long ago you can’t explain it. “I don’t know what Darrell Royal did to Arkansas back in the day, but they absolutely hate our guts,” Steve Sarkisian said in his Monday press conference. As Sark continued, Texas found out just how deep the Razorbacks’ hatred for the Longhorns ran back in September of 2021.

The rivalry between Texas and Arkansas became so competitive during Coach Royal and Arkansas Coach Frank Broyles’ tenures because of their brotherly-like friendship with one another. But the players and fans didn’t share the coaches ability to beat one another on the football field in the fall, then vacation together and play golf against one another in the summers. DKR and Broyles were similar men and Royal told some the two saw themselves in one another, they were both hardened men who were once hardscrabble youth. They had been raised in the Depression and each of them had far exceeded the hand that life had dealt them. Like Royal, Broyles had a chip on his shoulder, and to get his team to play with one too, he would point out the fact the Razorbacks were the one Southwest Conference team not from Texas. He stoked the belief that it was the Pigs versus the world and the Longhorns represented the evil empire of rich Texans. It was great theater, and it worked. The hatred toward Austin burned white hot, as if even God himself was working against Arkansas alongside Royal and Texas. In his own press conference this week, coach Sam Pittman mentioned how he showed his players many of the old games between the longtime rivals and it was reminiscent of the legendary Broyles’ own tactics to motivate his locker room.

Broyles was an incredible coach at Arkansas, but he went 5-14 against Texas. It was like Mack Brown’s underperformance against Oklahoma without the later turning of the tide. It’s hard to wipe those failures away from a legacy. Texas is often what stood in the way of the national championship for Arkansas in its most successful football era. Until the 21st century, it was Texas’ one-sided rivalry (as the great Steve Ross wrote earlier this week). When this game was played in the SWC, it seemed as if God was up there in the skies wearing a burnt orange robe and sporting a foam finger that was aimed at the Hogs who He was ready to smite. Texas fans are hoping that feeling returns on Saturday, and to celebrate the rivalry’s return to our screens or stadiums on a somewhat annual basis, here are the five(ish) defining games between Texas and Arkansas.

Honorable Mention…

1976: Texas 29 Arkansas 12 (Austin)

In fitting fashion, Darrell Royal’s last game came in a defeat of Arkansas on the first Saturday in December (just like the ’69 game) and one last laugh over his friend Broyles, who had announced his own retirement earlier in the season. Rumors that Royal would be stepping down had been circulating for weeks. He announced his retirement to the team in the locker room after the game. The win gave Texas a 5-5-1 final regular season record and ensured that Royal left without ever having a losing season in Austin.

5. 2021: Arkansas 40, Texas 21 (Fayetteville)

The hate was so thick on that September night in Northwest Arkansas that it seeped out of the screen. Arkansas had blood in its eyes, and Texas wasn’t ready for the atmosphere or the physicality that evening. Much has been written about that game and how it exposed just how unprepared the Longhorns were for the SEC. But in the long run, the failure served as a tool that helped align the Texas brass and the program at large behind Sark’s vision for what the roster needed to compete in the SEC.

So why did a one off game happen in the first place? It was a late makeup for a rescheduled game off a home and home series that Mack Brown had planned against the Razorbacks. The loss emulated the other times Texas has played its longtime foe in the 21st century, where Texas showed up with a folksy, Brown-like attitude that almost said, “Oh, isn’t this nice to be back among friends,” while Arkansas players and fans acted as if their parents and grandparents were the very ones whom Royal had once beaten into the dirt and were ready to enact vengeance. That bloodthirsty attitude has allowed the Razorbacks to be 4-2 versus Texas this century. Now it’s Texas’ turn to get revenge and the Longhorn players who were there in Fayetteville in 2021 want that chance.

4. 1959: Texas 13, Arkansas 12 (Little Rock)

The Longhorns roasting the Pigs in front of their own fans would become a trend under DKR and it started here. Royal’s third straight defeat of Arkansas and second of Broyles, who was in his second season in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks won the conference that season, but it was marred by the fact they lost to Texas in Little Rock.

3. 1962: Texas 7, Arkansas 3 – 1963 (Austin) & 1963: Texas 17, Arkansas 13 (Little Rock)

I’ll let Winters, Texas’ own Bill Little, explain 1962: “Texas was right back in the hunt in 1962. By the Arkansas game on October 20, they had moved to No. 1. In one of the most dramatic games ever in the stadium in Austin, the Horns drove eighty yards to score the game’s only touchdown with thirty-six seconds remaining in a 7-3 victory over the No. 7 ranked Razorbacks.” But Texas would tie Rice 14-14 the next week in Houston, and the dream of a championship would fade away.

That experience hardened the team, and in 1963, Texas almost blew a 17-0 lead to Arkansas, but the Longhorns and quarterback Duke Carlisle held on and would go on to win several more close calls before claiming the 1963 National Championship thanks to the strength forged from the white knuckle clenching in Little Rock.

2. 1964: Arkansas 14, Texas 13 (in Austin)

The loss cost Texas a national championship and led to the Pigs only title. The game was lost after a failed two-point conversion on the Longhorns’ second touchdown. Legend has it, this planted a seed in Royal’s mind to not go for two so late—it must be done on the first touchdown when you needed two scores to win. Which leads us to…

1. The Game of the Century or The Big Shootout, 1969: Texas 15, Arkansas 14 (Fayetteville)

What more can be mentioned about this game that hasn’t already been written or said in articles, books, documentaries, or movies? Fifty million people watched it live, and tens of millions more have watched it since. It’s 1A or 1B in Texas Football lore to the Rose Bowl against USC. Right 53 Veer Pass—James Street to Randy Peschel—was Vince Young’s 4th and 5 in the 20th century. It was a play that seemed touched by the heavens if you were a Longhorn fan, or if you were a Razorback fan, it might feel as if you were being struck down by the hand of the Almighty. James Brown’s infamous “Roll Left” in 1996 would later emulate that moment.

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For Broyles and Arkansas, 1969 became the one that got away and their hate for Texas still burns bright. It’s fifty-five years after the fact and we’re still talking about that game as Texas fans. It’s fifty-five years later and the Hogs fans still can’t forget it, no matter how hard they try.