Sam Pittman suggests Texas remains Arkansas' biggest rival

The Arkansas–Texas football rivalry has existed for over 120 years. However, the feud between the two programs died down when Arkansas joined the SEC in 1991.

Last year, Texas and Arkansas officially resumed their rivalry with the Longhorns joining the SEC. At the 2025 SEC Kickoff on Thursday, Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman revealed whether he believes Razorback fans still care about the historic rivalry.

“I feel like they do,” Pittman said. “I feel like it was a very passionate, very loud football game. Obviously, we lost 20-10 [last] year, but I believe that it is reviving the Texas-Arkansas rivalry. And, we’re 1-1 in that. Going down to Texas, tough place to play, great football team — but we’ll be looking forward to going down there.

“I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to getting us down there, but we have not played down there in those two games… But I believe, if you ask our fan base, and from the feel of the stadium — when we play the University of Texas, I believe that it’s one of our [biggest] rivals, if not number one.”

Arkansas hosted Texas last season and fell 20-10. It was a sellout crowd at Razorback Stadium, with just shy of 75,000 fans in attendance. For reference, there were 2,000 less fans at Arkansas’ showdown against Ole Miss the previous week.

Clearly, Razorbacks fans haven’t forgotten about the importance of their beloved program’s rivalry with Texas. They aren’t the only ones. Earlier this week, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian reflected on the backlash he faced after losing to Arkansas in 2021.

“From a fanbase perspective — especially the traditionalist fanbase — they love the rivalry with Arkansas,” Sarkisian said. “I think naturally, when I took the jo,b I knew of a rivalry with Oklahoma and [Texas] A&M because they made sense.

“I found out about the rivalry against Arkansas when they whooped our ass in the second game of my career when I got to Texas. So that rivalry got really good really fast for us. So we respect it, we honor it. It’s a heck of a rivalry and it’s a great game to be apart of.”

Texas and Arkansas will square off on Nov. 22 this year. The Longhorns will host Sam Pittman and his Razorbacks at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. The Razorbacks could use a win. Texas boasts a 57-23 all-time record in the rivalry.