Biggest games, top newcomers, teams on the rise: What we’re excited to see in 2024
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adminWhile Michigan fans are still basking in the glory of the Wolverines’ national championship, the rest of the college football world is left to look ahead to next season.
We’ve already gazed into a crystal ball for our Way-Too-Early Top 25 and Way-Too-Early All-America team. Now we’re looking more specifically at what we’re most excited to see once the teams take the field in 2024.
ESPN’s college football reporters weigh in on the games they’re most excited to see, the freshmen or transfers who could make a major impact and the teams they think might be ready to take a significant step forward.
What game on next season’s schedule are you most looking forward to?
Miami at Florida, Aug. 31
Though this in-state rivalry game may not have national championship implications right out of the gate, this is a huge game for both programs and head coaches. Mario Cristobal and Billy Napier each head into critical Year 3 seasons with fan bases that are eager for results. Interestingly enough, they have nearly identical records in their first two seasons — Cristobal 12-13 as the hometown hero tasked with bringing Miami back, Napier 11-14 facing the hardest schedule in the nation. What happens in this game will set the narrative and tone for what is to come at both schools. — Andrea Adelson
Texas at Michigan, Sept. 7
While the defending national champions will be undergoing a significant transition — most notably with Jim Harbaugh off to the NFL — Texas should be rocking and rolling heading into 2024 with a trip to Ann Arbor on the docket in Week 2, the programs’ first meeting since the 2005 Rose Bowl. With his team a play away from playing for the national title last season, Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers surely will be on many preseason Heisman lists, and the Wolverines get the early-season litmus test they haven’t dealt with in the past. — Blake Baumgartner
Georgia at Alabama, Sept. 28
Kalen DeBoer was already on the clock the minute the Alabama plane touched down in Tuscaloosa after he was announced as Nick Saban’s replacement. As the late Keith Jackson would say, “Whoa Nellie!” DeBoer understands exactly what he’s walking into, but it will get real (almost surreal) when Kirby Smart and Georgia come to town in Week 4. It will be only the fifth time in the past 20 years the two SEC powerhouses have played in the regular season. Five of their past six meetings have come in either the SEC championship game or the CFP National Championship game. Saban was 5-1 in those games, but will be watching from the stands in this one. — Chris Low
Ohio State at Oregon, Oct. 12
It’s probably no coincidence that the Buckeyes decided to go all in on the transfer portal shortly after rival Michigan ended its 26-year drought without a national title. By adding Alabama safety Caleb Downs, Kansas State quarterback Will Howard, Ole Miss tailback Quinshon Judkins and other impact players, the Buckeyes might be the team to beat in the newly expanded Big Ten. The Ducks will have something to say about it, however, after adding former Oklahoma starter Dillon Gabriel to replace record-setting quarterback Bo Nix. A long trip to Eugene won’t be easy for the Buckeyes, especially after facing Iowa’s stout defense the week before. — Mark Schlabach
Georgia at Texas, Oct. 19
Georgia likely will enter the season at No. 1 with an excellent chance to win its third national title in four seasons after claiming none between 1980 and 2021. A midseason trip to Austin will tell a lot, though, especially if Texas can build on its breakthrough 2023 season with quarterback Quinn Ewers back alongside several key transfer portal additions. The teams have met only once, at a neutral site in 1958 at Texas’ Memorial Stadium, but these types of clashes will be more common in the new-look SEC. — Adam Rittenberg
Florida State at Notre Dame, Nov. 9
This game will have playoff implications for both programs, but particularly Notre Dame, which can only earn a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff through an at-large bid. (Only the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot.) The Irish could get a significant boost to their résumé if they can claim a win against the potential ACC champs. If FSU finishes as a one-loss or undefeated conference champion, a road win against a ranked Notre Dame team could boost its seeding in the 12-team field. — Heather Dinich
Michigan at Ohio State, Nov. 31
No one knows what this game will look like by the time it comes around. With Harbaugh gone, will offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, who was the interim coach against Ohio State this past season for the Wolverines, be the head coach? We don’t know who Michigan’s replacement at quarterback will be for the outgoing J.J. McCarthy. We do know that Ohio State has loaded up in the transfer portal and added a lot of talent. This game is always interesting, but this season will have new storylines to watch and could have a ton of ramifications. — Tom VanHaaren
Utah at Oklahoma State, date TBD
Consider this one a placeholder. The Big 12 has long been a conference of tight games and wild finishes — I always joke that every game is decided by three points, and it’s only so much of a joke — and it just traded its two blue-blood programs for four teams that, with the right breaks this year, could be equal to everyone else, no better or worse. We could get even closer to “every game is decided by three points” becoming a reality, in other words. There might not be a national title contender in this conference, but it’s going to be a nonstop ride of fun games. — Bill Connelly
Which true freshman or transfer are you most excited to see?
Jeremiah Smith at Ohio State
With Marvin Harrison Jr. likely a top-five NFL draft selection come April after three very successful seasons in Columbus, there’s a significant void to fill at the wide receiver factory that exists at Ohio State. Enter five-star receiver Jeremiah Smith, the second-best receiver in the recruiting cycle. Smith (No. 7 overall in 2024) caught 90 passes for 1,389 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior for Florida high school power Chaminade-Madonna Prep, and he should provide an immediate impact for Ryan Day and Kansas State import Will Howard. — Baumgartner
Dylan Raiola at Nebraska
The five-star quarterback from Buford, Georgia, stunned a lot of folks when he flipped from his longtime commitment to Georgia to sign with Nebraska, his father Dominic’s alma mater, shortly before national signing day. There is a strong family connection to the Cornhuskers; Raiola’s uncle Donovan is the team’s offensive line coach. Raiola was looking for immediate playing time as a freshman, and he might be able to find it with the Cornhuskers. In 2023, Nebraska ranked next-to-last in the Big Ten in passing (only Iowa was worse) with 135.9 yards per game. — Schlabach
Dillon Gabriel at Oregon
Quarterback free agency in college football has never been hotter. Oregon hit it just right with Bo Nix the past two seasons, and now it’s Gabriel’s turn to take his shot at piloting the Ducks’ offense. This will be Gabriel’s third stop after starting his career at UCF and playing the past two seasons at Oklahoma. There’s not much Gabriel hasn’t seen. He’s entering his sixth season of college football and has thrown 25 or more touchdown passes in four of his previous five seasons. He also rushed for 12 touchdowns a year ago. He has been tutored by Josh Heupel and Jeff Lebby and is the kind of experienced playmaker the Ducks need at quarterback as they transition to the Big Ten. — Low
DJ Uiagalelei at Florida State
It feels strange even typing DJU and Florida State in the same sentence, considering the path he has traveled to get to Tallahassee. One of the most highly touted quarterbacks in the nation out of high school, Uiagalelei started his career at Clemson, where he struggled for two seasons as the starter, then sought a fresh start at Oregon State. After a solid 2023 season, Uiagalelei decided to transfer once again — this time to Clemson’s ACC nemesis. Will he handle the pressure that comes with the spotlight at Florida State any better than he did at Clemson? Time will tell. Mark an X on Oct. 5 in your calendar; that’s the date Clemson comes to Doak Campbell Stadium. — Adelson
Caleb Downs at Ohio State
The Buckeyes were able to get Downs, who was arguably the best transfer player this offseason. He was the first true freshman at Alabama to lead the team in total tackles with 107. Coordinator Jim Knowles has improved this Ohio State defense in two seasons, but adding Downs will push the group up another level. Downs should be an instant impact player who could help Ohio State compete for a national championship when combined with everyone else the Buckeyes have returning on defense for the 2024 season. — VanHaaren
Malachi Nelson at Boise State
Nelson’s situation stands out for a number of reasons. Most No. 1 overall recruits, especially quarterbacks, would appear in more than one game and log more than three pass attempts in their freshman season. Should they choose to transfer, they often would pick a similar type of program or at least one in a power conference. But Nelson is headed to Boise State, which comes off a surprise Mountain West title run, returns key players such as running back Ashton Jeanty, and may be poised to reclaim its place as the nation’s elite Group of 5 program — just in time for the expanded CFP. Nelson’s evolution on the blue turf will be fascinating to watch. — Rittenberg
Cam Ward at Miami
I think I’m most excited about the uncertainty here — I have absolutely no idea what to expect from Ward, who was beautifully prolific at Incarnate Word, then tantalizing but inconsistent in two years at Washington State. Ward seemed to want to go pro, declaring for the draft but apparently not getting the draft grade he was looking for, and that could make him particularly hungry for a big year. He’s a pretty accurate passer with a scrambling streak. Can he unlock what has been a very frustrating Miami offense? Or will he frustrate too? — Connelly
What team are you most interested in seeing if it can take a big step forward?
The Rebels finished 11-2 with losses to Georgia and Alabama in 2023. So the big step here is trying to compete with those two and trying to get to the SEC championship game. The offense returns a ton of production, including quarterback Jaxson Dart. But the coaches have completely retooled the defense, which was the area that needed improvement. Lane Kiffin and Pete Golding added Texas A&M defensive tackle Walter Nolen, Florida edge Princely Umanmielen, Oklahoma safety Key Lawrence, Arkansas linebacker Chris Paul Jr., Indiana safety Louis Moore, Tennessee corner Brandon Turnage, Michigan corner Amorion Walker and Alabama corner Trey Amos. That team, with those additions, should be in line for another great season as one of the elite teams in the country. — VanHaaren
The Orange have won 10 games in a season exactly once in the past 22 years, going 10-3 under Dino Babers in 2018. Babers couldn’t sustain that success and was fired after his teams produced one winning season in the past five. The Orange took a gamble on former Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown, who is a top-notch recruiter but has never been a head coach. He landed former Ohio State starter Kyle McCord out of the transfer portal. The Orange don’t play ACC foes Clemson, Florida State or North Carolina during the regular season, and they play Virginia Tech, Miami, Stanford and Georgia Tech at home. There’s a chance for improvement in Brown’s first season. — Schlabach
Given what Jonathan Smith did at Oregon State and the decision to leave his alma mater to coach in the newly loaded Big Ten, it will be interesting to see if he can get Michigan State back on track after the Mel Tucker era ended in disgrace. The entire quarterback room transferred out following a tumultuous 4-8 campaign. Aidan Chiles joined Smith from Corvallis and should be given the keys to the Spartans’ offense after seeing limited time as DJ Uiagalelei’s backup (309 passing yards, 79 rushing yards and seven total TDs in nine games). The Spartans’ offense needs a jolt in the worst way after finishing 125th in FBS in total offense (289.3 YPG) and 96th nationally in passing (199.8 YPG). With in-state rival Michigan still reveling in its first national title since 1997, Michigan State can’t fall too far behind. Smith’s track record suggests he may be up for the task. — Baumgartner
It’s a credit to Kyle Whittingham and his entire Utah program that an 8-5 record is seen as a “down” season. But the Utes lost four conference games for the first time since 2017 and lost four of their last six games to end the season. That’s after winning back-to-back Pac-12 championships. As they transition to the Big 12 in 2024, don’t be surprised if the Utes are right there at the top challenging for the title. That’s significant, too, because the Big 12 champion gets an automatic berth into the new 12-team playoff, and potentially a top-four seed and a first-round bye. Some of the best news for Utah is that star quarterback Cam Rising will be back after missing all of last season with a knee injury, and the Utes have also filled some key holes in the transfer portal. — Low
It would seem as though the only direction to go is up for the Bears. Baylor struggled on both sides of the ball last year, but with the hire of proven offensive coordinator Jake Spavital — along with coach Dave Aranda returning to defensive playcalling duties — there should be noticeable improvements. The offensive line was extremely young last season, which should start to pay off soon. The pressure is on Aranda after a 3-9 finish last year that included just one win at home (vs. Long Island University). — Dinich
The Trojans were the nation’s most disappointing team in 2023, going from preseason No. 6 to five losses, two more than any previous Lincoln Riley-coached team. Riley now leads USC into the Big Ten, which will bring different challenges and opportunities. There will be less national hype around USC and its quarterback, Miller Moss, entering the fall, but the Trojans have a chance to be a more balanced and better team. The defense will be particularly interesting to watch after Riley overhauled the coaching staff, with the group now led by D’Anton Lynn. One way or another, Riley’s third USC team will set the trajectory for the program under his leadership. — Rittenberg
When quarterback Preston Stone got hurt late in the season, the Mustangs had won eight games in a row by an average score of 46-17. Thanks to a dramatically improved defense, they managed to beat Tulane on the road to win the AAC championship game without Stone, before finishing the season with a dreary performance in dreary conditions against Boston College in the Fenway Bowl. But with Stone back, and with head coach Rhett Lashlee thus far holding on to dynamite defensive coordinator Scott Symons (and adding another round of fun transfers), SMU enters the ACC with one of the highest ceilings in its new conference. — Connelly
The Hokies last played for an ACC championship in 2016, and last won a conference title in 2010 — a long streak considering the heyday of the program under Frank Beamer. This upcoming season could be their best chance to elevate the program back to Top 25 status and championship contender. Coming off a 7-6 season, Virginia Tech returns nearly every key offensive contributor off a team that got better as 2023 progressed. Quarterback Kyron Drones is a star in the making as a passer and rusher, while running back Bhayshul Tuten and top receivers Da’Quan Felton, Stephen Gosnell, Jaylin Lane and Ali Jennings are back. — Adelson
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Low and inside: O’s will again alter LF dimensions
Published
46 mins agoon
November 15, 2024By
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Associated Press
Nov 15, 2024, 06:30 PM ET
BALTIMORE — The Orioles are ready to adjust their wall in left field again.
The team moved the wall at Camden Yards back and made it significantly taller before the 2022 season. General manager Mike Elias said Friday the team “overcorrected” and will try to find a “happier medium” before the 2025 season.
The team sent out a rendering of changes showing the wall moved farther in — particularly in left-center field near the bullpens — and reduced in height.
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Dodgers’ Graterol (shoulder) to sit first half of ’25
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53 mins agoon
November 15, 2024By
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Associated Press
Nov 15, 2024, 05:19 PM ET
LOS ANGELES — Dodgers right-hander Brusdar Graterol will miss the first half of next season after having surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder.
The surgery was performed Thursday by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the Dodgers announced Friday.
Graterol is expected to return in the second half of the 2025 season.
Graterol pitched in seven games during the regular season and three games in the World Series against the New York Yankees, which the Dodgers won in five games. He allowed three hits over 2⅓ scoreless innings in those World Series appearances.
The 26-year-old was slowed this season by shoulder inflammation and a hamstring injury.
Graterol, a hard-throwing Venezuelan, spent his first season in the majors with Minnesota in 2019, and the Twins traded him to the Dodgers before the 2020 season. For his career, he has a 2.78 ERA and 11 saves in 188 games.
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‘They absolutely hate our guts’: The weird, wonderful games that define Texas-Arkansas
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1 hour agoon
November 15, 2024By
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Bill Connelly, ESPN Staff WriterNov 15, 2024, 06:46 AM ET
Close- Bill Connelly is a staff writer for ESPN.com.
At SEC media days in July, Steve Sarkisian inadvertently described a good portion of college football in a single line. “I feel like when you go to Arkansas,” the Texas Longhorns coach said, “I almost at times feel like they hate Texas more than they like themselves. That’s a real rivalry.”
Later that week, Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman confirmed Sarkisian’s take. “We hadn’t played Texas for years,” he said, “and when we played them a couple of years back, it was the most excited our fan base has been in a while. So I would say he’s probably right.”
Houston Nutt can testify. Nutt grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. He idolized legendary Arkansas coach Frank Broyles and watched him battle Darrell Royal and the Longhorns before playing for the Razorbacks himself.
“When Texas came to play Arkansas, it was this huge, huge thing,” he told ESPN in 2019. “I remember being taught at the age of 6 outside War Memorial Stadium [in Little Rock] how to do the Hook ‘Em Horns Down sign.”
Nutt beat the Horns as the Hogs’ coach, a 27-6 win in the 2000 Cotton Bowl, Arkansas’ first bowl win since 1985. He turned around, and threw the Horns Down to the Arkansas fans.
“It was a sea of red, and they were mostly doing the Hook ‘Em Horns Down,” Nutt said. “What did I do? I can’t help it. I’m right there with ’em.”
Conference realignment has broken countless rivalries through the years. There are no Oklahoma-Oklahoma State games on the schedule; Missouri and Kansas haven’t played since 2011; Cal has traded playing UCLA for playing NC State; Oregon-Oregon State and Washington-Washington State have been moved from the traditional bottom of the schedule to the top; Pitt and West Virginia play only sporadically, as do Oklahoma and Nebraska. But in the “thank God for small favors” department, this latest round of realignment at least reignited a few rivalries to replace the further ones we lost. Longtime Big 8 and Big 12 rivals Oklahoma and Missouri played this past Saturday for the first time in 13 years (and celebrated the occasion with a particularly wacky finish), and on Nov. 30 not only will we get our first Texas vs. Texas A&M game since 2011 but it also might have enormous College Football Playoff stakes.
While we wait for Aggies-Horns, however, we get a rivalry game that, for quite a while, outshined Texas-A&M and defined Southwest Conference football. On Saturday, Texas and Arkansas will play for just the fourth time in 20 years and will play as conference rivals for the first time in 33. Most rivalries fit into certain parameters — the dueling heavyweights that split the wins over time, the heavyweight against the aspirant that measures itself by how well it’s faring against the big dog, etc. — but over the course of a few decades, Arkansas-Texas fit into multiple categories. Arkansas was the aggrieved and aspirant underdog for much of the series, but for much of the 1960s, when Royal and Broyles were at the top of their respective games, this was the biggest game in college football. Whichever flavor it takes on at a given time, this game remains spicy.
Texas is 8-1 and listed as a favorite by more than two touchdowns Saturday, while Arkansas is 5-4, having handed Tennessee its only loss of the season but suffered two blowout losses in its past four games. The Razorbacks are volatile underdogs; the Longhorns are SEC title favorites; and, for at least a little while Saturday, Razorback Stadium will be an absolute cauldron. To prepare ourselves, let’s look back at 10 of the most noteworthy games in this revived rivalry’s history.
No. 3 Texas 20, No. 14 Arkansas 0 (1946)
“Steers Trounce Tough Porkers For 5th Victory” was the headline in the Austin American. At 3-0-1, Arkansas was off to its best start in 13 years, and for the first time these teams met as mutually ranked foes. But Texas, also unbeaten and the winner of three of the past four Southwest Conference (SWC) crowns, handled both the moment and the muggy conditions better. Future pro and college football Hall of Famer Bobby Layne threw a pair of touchdown passes — one to Hub Bechtol for 50 yards, one to Jim Canady for 47 — and the Longhorns had scored all their points by halftime. This was a pretty common result: Aside from a mid-1930s run in which Texas lost its way as a program and Arkansas won five of six games between them, UT dominated the early stages of this rivalry, winning 29 of the first 35 battles. It’s been a lot closer since then.
This was the high-water mark for the “Steers,” by the way, as they would fall via road upset to both Rice and TCU, handing Arkansas only its second SWC title. The Razorbacks would head to Dallas, where they endured a 0-0 tie with LSU in the Cotton Bowl.
No. 3 Texas 13, No. 12 Arkansas 12 (1959)
After falling apart under Edwin Price in the mid-1950s, Texas righted the ship by hiring Royal, a former Oklahoma Sooner, to lead the program in 1957. In 1959 the Longhorns embarked on a run of nine top-10 finishes and two national titles in 14 years. Royal won his first two games against Arkansas by a combined 41-6, but second-year head coach Broyles also had things up and running by 1959. The Razorbacks would enjoy eight top-10 finishes in 11 years from 1959 to 1969; in this tight loss, they served notice as to what was coming.
As with much of 1950s college football, this game was decided by disasters. Both teams lost four fumbles; Arkansas recovered a loose ball to set up its first touchdown, but with Texas trailing 12-7 in the third quarter, another future Hall of Famer, Lance Alworth, muffed a punt, which set up a winning touchdown pass from Bart Shirley to Jack Collins. Between 1959 and 1969, eight of 11 Steers-Porkers games would be decided by five or fewer points.
No. 8 Arkansas 14, No. 1 Texas 13 (1964)
Texas won its first national title under Royal in 1963; the Longhorns shined in big games that season, beating No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Navy by a combined 56-13, but they managed only a 17-13 win over Arkansas in Fayetteville. They advanced their winning streak to 15 games early in 1964, but Broyles was building a title-worthy squad of his own by then.
For the third time in four years, this was a matchup of top-10 teams. The most famous members of the 1964 Razorbacks were future Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and future college and NFL title winner Jimmy Johnson, but future Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield made the difference in this one. His 81-yard punt return gave Arkansas a 7-0 halftime lead, and after Texas tied the score in the fourth quarter, Fred Marshall found Bobby Crockett for a 34-yard touchdown to put Arkansas ahead once more. With about a minute left, Ernie Koy scored on a 1-yard plunge; Royal, entirely uninterested in a tie, elected to go for two points and the win, but a pass attempt came up short. Texas’ winning streak was over, and Arkansas would go on to finish 11-0 and score a share of its first national title.
No. 3 Arkansas 27, No. 1 Texas 24 (1965)
By October 1965, Arkansas had extended its winning streak to 16 games, winning its first four games of 1965 by a combined 114-33. But Texas had leapfrogged the Razorbacks to get back to No. 1, thanks in part to a 19-0 win over Oklahoma. That put the chip firmly back on Arkansas’ shoulder.
With the extra dose of motivation — plus, perhaps, some divine intervention: Fayetteville’s First Baptist Church famously posted, “Football is only a game, eternal things are spiritual. Nevertheless, beat Texas” that week — Arkansas raced to an early lead thanks to a pair of Phil Harris fumbles. Martine Bercher recovered the first one in the end zone, then Tommy Trantham took another one 77 yards for a score.
Arkansas went up 20-0 after a Jon Brittenum-to-Bobby Crockett touchdown, but Texas charged back. It was 20-11 by halftime, and David Conway’s 34-yard field goal made it 24-20 Longhorns with just five minutes left. Brittenum scored from a yard out with 1:32 remaining, though, and Arkansas had its second of three straight wins in the series.
The Hogs would run their overall winning streak to 22 before falling to LSU 14-7 in the Cotton Bowl.
No. 1 Texas 15, No. 2 Arkansas 14 (1969)
Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? Texas usually played Oklahoma and Arkansas back-to-back in early October, but Roone Arledge, the innovative head of ABC Sports, had an idea in the offseason. Texas had finished 1968 as the hottest team in the country, winning its last nine games and averaging 37 points per game with offensive coordinator Emory Bellard’s innovative wishbone scheme. Arkansas, meanwhile, finished 10-1 with only a 39-29 loss at Texas. The Longhorns and Razorbacks finished third and sixth, respectively, in the AP poll and headed into 1969, college football’s centennial season, as obvious national title contenders.
According to Terry Frei’s “Horns, Hogs, and Nixon’s Coming,” ABC publicist (and future ESPN analyst) Beano Cook pored over the schedules and determined that Arkansas, Texas and Penn State all had good chances of going unbeaten. “My recommendation involved Penn State and Arkansas finishing the regular season with perfect records and then playing for the national title,” Cook told Frei. “I said we should move Texas-Arkansas to December 6, because I thought Texas might be undefeated then, too.” Arledge told the coaches that former Oklahoma coach and politician Bud Wilkinson could make sure that new President Richard Nixon was likely to attend the game as well. It was going to be a spectacle unlike anything college football had seen.
Sure enough, the Longhorns and Razorbacks both reached December unbeaten (as did Penn State), and Nixon was there in the stands for a game that somehow lived up to all expectations.
With Texas’ offense discombobulated early — the Horns turned the ball over on their first two drives — Arkansas scored on a short Bill Burnett run and, early in the third quarter, a 29-yard catch by star receiver Chuck Dicus. Texas quarterback James Street scored on the first play of the fourth quarter, then scored on a 2-point conversion as well. (Royal decided before the game that he once again wanted to avoid a tie at all costs.)
With the score 14-8, Arkansas drove the length of the field and was on the verge of putting the game away until Danny Lester picked off a Bill Montgomery pass in the end zone. Then came “Right 53 Veer Pass”: On a fourth-and-3 near midfield, Street threw a bomb to Randy Peschel for 44 yards.
#TBT – 1969: Texas defeats Arkansas 15-14.#ThisIsTexas #HookEm pic.twitter.com/xoqn5cbhFm
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) October 17, 2019
Two plays later, Texas went ahead with a short Jim Bertelsen touchdown. Arkansas drove near field goal range in the final seconds, but Tom Campbell picked off Montgomery to ice the game, and Nixon declared Texas the national champion in the locker room after the game. (This rather annoyed Penn State’s Joe Paterno, whose team was also unbeaten.)
College football’s explosion as a television product can be ascribed to countless things, but ABC’s innovative approach to broadcasting, followed by a couple of all-time classics — this and 1971 Oklahoma-Nebraska, to name two — in short succession certainly didn’t hurt.
No. 1 Texas 42, No. 4 Arkansas 7 (1970)
The sequel often fails to live up to the billing. Almost exactly a year after the 1969 classic, Texas was riding a 29-game winning streak, while 9-1 Arkansas was ranked fourth in the AP poll and looking for revenge on national television. It didn’t quite work out.
Texas rushed for 464 yards — Bertelsen and Steve Worster combined for 315 on their own, with five of the Longhorns’ six touchdowns — and picked off Montgomery three times. After a goal-line stand by the Longhorns’ defense prevented Arkansas from tying the score early on, the floodgates opened.
The tide had again turned in the rivalry. Arkansas would finally get some measure of revenge the next year with a win in Little Rock, but after winning four of seven over the Horns between 1960-66, the Hogs won only once between 1966-79.
No. 8 Texas 28, No. 3 Arkansas 21 (1978)
A generation ended when both Royal and Broyles retired after matching 5-5-1 seasons in 1976. They both ended up hiring their younger replacements — 38-year old Fred Akers at UT, 40-year old Lou Holtz at Arkansas — as their schools’ respective athletic directors.
Both led immediate rebounds. Holtz won 30 games, Akers won 29, and both schools finished in the AP top 12 each year from 1977 to 1979. In 1978, Akers’ Longhorns played a unique role, too: spoiler. They welcomed unbeaten Arkansas to Austin and ended the Hogs’ 11-game winning streak. Two Randy McEachern touchdown passes in the final minute of the first half turned a tie into a 20-7 Texas lead, and when Arkansas charged back to take the lead, Johnny “Lam” Jones caught McEachern’s third TD pass, and Johnnie Johnson picked off one pass and broke up another on a fourth down to seal the win. This was the first of four straight upsets in the series, with the lower-ranked team winning every year from 1978 to 1981. My favorite rivalries are the ones that make no sense.
Arkansas 42, No. 1 Texas 11 (1981)
And now for maybe the most shocking result in the history of the rivalry. Akers’ Longhorns entered the 1981 game No. 1 in the country, having just blown out Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma 34-14 to move to 4-0. Arkansas, meanwhile, had fallen out of the AP rankings two weeks earlier after a road loss to an awful TCU team that would finish 2-7-2. Surely a blowout was in store, right?
This was indeed a blowout, but not the one anyone expected. Two fumbles and a safety from an airmailed punt snap gave Arkansas a quick 15-0 lead, and the Longhorns never got closer. The Hogs led 25-3 at halftime and 39-3 after three quarters; Texas actually outgained the home team 421-323, but seven turnovers sabotaged all efforts. A turnaround in the series? Not so much. The last two Akers-Holtz battles ended up a combined 64-10 in favor of the team in burnt orange. But this one was an awfully big thumb in the eye, and it would prevent the Horns from winning a national title — they ended up second in the polls behind Clemson.
Arkansas 14, Texas 13 (1991)
“Ain’t no rematch. Best thing of all, ain’t gonna be no rematch.” That’s Arkansas head coach Jack Crowe, celebrating a Hogs win in the final SWC matchup between the two rivals. He had just weathered one of the silliest games in the series to secure permanent (well, permanent-ish) bragging rights. Arkansas led 14-0 at halftime after touchdowns from Ron Dickerson Jr. and Kerwin Price, but a 14-yard Phil Brown touchdown made it 14-7 heading into the fourth quarter, and a 55-yard burst from Brown tied the score. Or at least, it should have: The Longhorns missed the PAT, then missed a 39-yard field goal attempt with 3:45 left.
The teams weren’t particularly memorable, even if the game was. Crowe’s Razorbacks went 6-6 in their last season in the SWC, while David McWilliams’ fifth and final Texas team went 5-6. The teams had weathered ups and downs, splitting the previous six meetings and producing zero top-10 finishes from 1984 to 1991 as the SWC wobbled through controversies and discontent. In 1990, the SEC announced it was adding Arkansas as part of an expansion to 10 teams; the plan had originally included adding not only the Hogs but also Texas and Texas A&M, but the state legislature intervened, and only Arkansas was on its way out the door. So was Crowe: Broyles fired him (and then tried to get away with announcing he’d resigned) after Arkansas began its SEC tenure with a 10-3 loss to The Citadel.
No. 7 Texas 22, Arkansas 20 (2004)
Since 1991, this has basically been a series of pent-up aggression: Whichever rival takes an early lead when they meet just keeps wailing away for a while. Arkansas won two bowl meetings (the 2000 Cotton Bowl and the 2014 Texas Bowl) by a combined 58-13, Texas won a home game in Austin 52-10 in 2008, and Arkansas won a home game in Fayetteville, Steve Sarkisian’s second game in charge at Texas, by a score of 40-21 in 2021.
A 2003-04 home-and-home series produced some drama, though. Arkansas upset No. 6 Texas by a 38-28 margin in 2003, using an early 21-0 run to build some space, getting 217 combined rushing yards from Cedric Cobbs and quarterback Matt Jones and scoring every time it needed to down the stretch.
But with a young quarterback by the name of Vince Young taking over for UT in 2004, the Longhorns got some revenge. Texas built a quick 9-0 advantage with a safety from a bombed punt snap and a 49-yard TD from Young to David Thomas. And from there, it was the Cedric Benson show: The star running back produced 201 yards from scrimmage and scored via both ground and air. Texas held a 22-17 lead into the fourth quarter, and after forcing an Arkansas field goal with 9:58 left, the Longhorns’ defense forced three consecutive turnovers to ice the win. Arkansas would stumble to a disappointing 5-6 record, while Mack Brown’s Longhorns would finish 11-1 before winning the national title a year later.
The most recent Hogs-Horns game might turn out to have been pretty useful. “I don’t know what Darrell Royal did to Arkansas back in the day,” Sarkisian joked with reporters this week, “but they absolutely hate our guts. And I think we learned that the first time around when we went there.”
Texas knows what it’s walking into, at least. They know to expect a Horns Down or two, though we’ll have to wait and see if Sam Pittman gets in on the act.
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