Legendary Longhorn James Street Dies

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In my mind's eye, I can see quarterback James Street scrambling and passing for the University of Texas during his college football career in the 1960s.

Street died today at the age of 65.

Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News recalled Street's role in executing "the best play [coach] Darrell Royal ever called" — the fourth–and–three play action pass that set up the winning touchdown against Arkansas in the "Great Shootout" in Fayetteville, Ark., on Dec. 6, 1969.

The Shootout was a rarity in college football at that time — a game between the top two ranked teams in the nation.

"Street made [the play] work, his pass falling six inches behind two sets of Arkansas hands and into Randy Peschel's," Sherrington writes, "setting up the winning touchdown in a 15–14 game that won Texas a national title. In the process, Street made believers out of every teammate, coach, Longhorn and Razorback."

I guess that was true. I grew up in Razorback country. Ever since I was old enough to follow football, I pulled for the Razorbacks on autumn Saturdays, and the Shootout broke my young heart.

But I guess Sherrington is right. Street made a believer out of me — or, at least, his 20–0 record as Texas' quarterback coupled with Texas' victory in December 1969 convinced me.

(The memory still hurts even after all this time. I truly believed Arkansas would win that game.)

As much as I admired Bill Montgomery, Arkansas' quarterback in those days, I have to admit that I wished the Razorbacks had Street — in much the way that fans today wish their team had Peyton Manning.

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When the game was over, Street joined Royal to accept the plaque from President Nixon proclaiming the Longhorns national champions.

But Street and Royal knew they still had to defeat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day — which proved to be a formidable task.

I watched that game — and wished again that it could be Arkansas playing for a national title against Notre Dame.

Instead, the Razorbacks lost the Sugar Bowl to Archie Manning and Ole Miss that day. The loss was meaningless, of course, compared to what the Razorbacks had lost a few weeks earlier — and what they could have won on that New Year's Day if they had beaten the Longhorns.

But it was Street who left the Cotton Bowl as the unblemished quarterback of the national champion.

Happy 75th Birthday to Razorback Stadium

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Today is the 75th anniversary of the opening of the football stadium on the campus of my alma mater, and a season–long celebration is planned.

I am speaking of Razorback Stadium at the University of Arkansas. Actually, since 2001, it has been known as Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. (Reynolds was a philanthropist who studied journalism at the University of Missouri and went on to own newspapers in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Reynolds' newspapers launched the Donrey Media Group, which was active in both journalism scholarships and internships when I was in school.)

The Razorbacks only won twice in 1938, but one of those victories came in Razorback Stadium's opener. The victory came against Oklahoma State, 27–7.

It's been expanded twice since I was in school there. They've added all sorts of bells and whistles — as well as seats — since the last time I was there. When I was a student, the only lights in the stadium were designed to allow players to practice, not to illuminate a night game for television. But Razorback Stadium has lights now — along with one of those huge screens at one end of the field.

Even so, I'm sure it would feel much the same to be there — even after all these years.

There have been lots of changes starting with the conference affiliation. When I was growing up, the Hogs competed in the Southwest Conference, but they've been in the Southeastern Conference since 1992. And today, the Hogs are 3–1 to start a season for the eighth time in the last 25 years (they started 4–0 four other times).

This Saturday, they will come home to face Texas A&M, an old Southwest Conference nemesis.

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Back in the summer, I saw an online contest to pick the most significant game ever played in Razorback Stadium. I didn't participate in the contest — I meant to, but I was short of time when I saw it, and I told myself I would go back and cast a vote, but I never did — but I've been thinking a lot about the question it posed.

If the question had been asked about War Memorial Stadium, the Hogs' home in central Arkansas (and much closer to the town — now small city — where I grew up), I think it would be pretty easy. In 1975, Texas A&M was ranked second in the nation when the Aggies came to Little Rock to face the Razorbacks in the season finale.

Teddy Barnes' TD reception just before halftime sparked Arkansas to a 31–6 victory over the previously unbeaten Aggies and a berth in the Cotton Bowl against Georgia.

But the question was not asked about War Memorial Stadium. It was asked about Razorback Stadium.

I went to some significant games at Razorback Stadium when I was a student there, and I know of some significant games that have been played there since I graduated, but only one game came to mind when I read that question. It was played long before I went to a game in Fayetteville.

It's "The Great Shootout" between top–ranked Texas and second–ranked Arkansas in 1969.

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I have written of that game before. The Texas game was always the most important game on the schedule when I was growing up, no matter what the records were. The fans in Arkansas would have worked themselves into a frenzy even if both teams came into the game winless.

But the 1969 game was unique.

It was a rare meeting between the top two teams in the nation, and network folks were so certain that Arkansas and Texas would beat all of their other opponents that year — and be #1 and #2 in the polls — that they persuaded the schools to move their game from its traditional slot in mid–October to the first weekend in December, when no one else was scheduled to be in action, and the Hogs and the Longhorns could have the spotlight all to themselves.

In the days before conference championship games — and even national championship games — it was a fitting capper for college football's 100th season.

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It may have been the greatest disappointment of my then–brief life when Texas edged Arkansas, 15–14, and was given a plaque proclaiming the Longhorns the national champions by President Nixon, who was, I believe, the first sitting president ever to visit Fayetteville. Texas coach Darrell Royal accepted the plaque from the president — even though he knew the Longhorns still had to overcome Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day.

And I watched it all on my parents' black–and–white TV. I don't remember how old I was when I first saw a Razorback game in color. All my early memories are in black and white.

Most of my memories of Razorback Stadium also involve Frank Broyles because he was Arkansas' coach when I was growing up. He was always there, always on the sideline, always doing his weekly TV show on Sundays (which, in those pre–cable days when teams were limited to one or two in–season telecasts per year, was usually the only way I could see footage of the Razorbacks in action).

Once, when I was a student at the University of Arkansas, I did a brief phone interview with Broyles. I must confess, I was a bit starstruck. I mean, here I was talking to the man I had watched roam sidelines since I was a child. I can't really say I idolized him. But he was a familiar figure to everyone in Arkansas, and I felt like one might if speaking to a movie star.

Broyles was no longer the coach by the time I interviewed him. He was the full–time athletic director, but he patiently answered my questions (which I realized, at the time, could have been more professional — but what the heck? I was a student), and I wrote up a story for the school newspaper.

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Interestingly, while the stadium is known, officially, as Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, the playing surface is known as Frank Broyles Field. That is something I have encountered at other schools, too — including the University of Oklahoma, where I taught journalism for four years. I never attended a football game at OU, but I was well aware of the fact that the football facility was known as Memorial Stadium at Owen Field.

It isn't new to me. It just seems kind of unnecessary, like hyphenated surnames.

But I guess both serve a purpose.

Anyway, it's been 75 years since Razorback Stadium opened its doors. I'm proud to have played my modest role in its development. I witnessed some great moments in Razorback history — and I saw a few Southwest Conference greats from other schools play there. Most of the people who read or hear of those games and players will not know I was there, but I was. I cherish the memories.

Happy birthday, Razorback Stadium — and many more.

A Giant Falls in Texas

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There were many giants in college football when I was growing up, and Darrell Royal was one of the largest figures.

He wasn't physically imposing — he always looked rather ordinary to me — but he was still intimidating. Maybe it was his reputation as a winner.

Or maybe it was his way with words.

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"You dance with who brung ya."

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He was an honorable man, and he remained a beloved figure in Texas long after he left coaching.

My grandmother lived in Dallas most of her life, and there was a little Mexican restaurant about three blocks from her home. It was just a little family owned restaurant, not a franchise or anything like that, and the walls were filled with photos of Royal, many of which had been signed by him. Most of them said something like "To my friend [whatever his name was]. I always love to eat at your place when I'm in Dallas. Darrell Royal"

(I don't know if the owner and Royal really were friends or not. I once asked the cashier if the signatures were authentic, and she said they were, but I was never sure she understood my question. Her English wasn't very good, and the extent of my Spanish is that I can count to 10.)

His death today at the age of 88 truly marked the end of an era for me, even though it has been more than 30 years since he walked the sidelines — and even though he was my greatest nemesis when I was growing up.

One by one, the familiar faces from those days have been disappearing over the years, but Royal's death may be the biggest one yet from these parts. As Kirk Bohls writes in the Austin American–Statesman, Royal "became the biggest college football icon in a state that worships the sport."

Actually, a case could be made that Royal was the biggest football icon in Texas — period. Tom Landry may have surpassed him in popularity when he took the Dallas Cowboys to five Super Bowls in the 1970s, but in the 1960s, while Royal was winning national championships on the college level, people around here were talking about how Landry couldn't win "the big one" in the NFL.

I grew up in Arkansas, where the Razorbacks rule, and you just couldn't be an Arkansas fan without hating Texas. The annual football game between the schools was an event — even though it usually didn't end too well for Razorback fans. (I can count on one hand the number of Arkansas victories over Texas in the first 20 years of my life.)

As a result, there was a certain amount of resentment directed toward Royal. It seemed he always had the upper hand.

Arkansas fans knew Texas didn't have a better coach. Arkansas had Frank Broyles, who is justifiably regarded as a legend in the sport as well, but he might have been the most dominant coach in the Southwest Conference had it not been for Royal.

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They had both won national championships in the 1960s. But when they met in 1969's "Great Shootout," Texas fans were strutting with confidence about the success of the wishbone offense that Royal had pioneered with assistant coach Emory Bellard. Any thought Arkansas fans had of beating it, Texas fans said, was nothing more than dreaming the impossible dream.

Texas was to Arkansas what Muhammad Ali was to Joe Frazier or what Secretariat was to Sham — the ever–constant barrier to greater things.

And, for that, many Razorback fans could never forgive him.

But they always respected him.

Arkansas Anticipation

Here in Dallas, the official start of the NFL season is about two weeks away, and the complaints about the Cowboys, from whom much is expected, already have begun.

"The Cowboys' first–team offense, which had been anything but sharp in the first three preseason games, looked even worse Saturday night in a 23–7 loss to the Houston Texans," writes Tim Cowlishaw in the Dallas Morning News.

Losing a football game to Houston — even in the preseason — has never gone down easily in Dallas. Over the years, the Cowboys have had intense rivalries with many teams — but losing to an instate rival, even (or, perhaps, especially) when not much is expected from that rival, is just downright intolerable.

Texas, like most Southern states, has a reputation for being religious. But the real religion around here is football.

And Dallas may be the most egregious offender. In the nearly 40 years of its existence, Texas Stadium's distinctive rectangular hole in the roof was said to be there so God could watch his football team play.

(The first time I heard that, I wondered what was keeping God from watching the teams that played in stadiums that had no roof or anything else that might obscure the view from on high.)

I even read an obituary once in a Texas newspaper that said the deceased would be enjoying seats on the 50–yard line for God's football games. (The assumption, of course, was that heaven has a football team. But no mention was ever made concerning who that team would play. Hell's Angels, perhaps?)

I'm not a Dallas native, and I'm not a Cowboys fan so it really doesn't matter to me if Dallas doesn't live up to its fans' expectations.

But I do understand the almost religious fervor that accompanies the start of football season here. I grew up in it — in Arkansas.

Now, there is no professional sports team in Arkansas (other than the minor league baseball team that plays in Little Rock). But the statewide devotion to the University of Arkansas Razorbacks has always put the fan bases of many NFL teams to shame.

When I was a child, the Razorbacks were always ranked going into a season. They didn't always finish the season in the then–Top 20 — in fact, they seldom won the Southwest Conference, the now–defunct conference in which they once competed — but the fans still went into every season convinced the Hogs would win them all.

And, then, with each loss, even when the loss was expected, the anguish in Arkansas was excruciating.

Nevertheless, in spite of some brutal setbacks, the Hogs always seemed to come through when you least expected it.

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One of the most astonishing was the day in 1981 when the Razorbacks took on their old rivals, the top–ranked Texas Longhorns, two weeks after losing to TCU for the first time in more than 20 years.

At that time, TCU was not the nationally recognized football program it is today. The Horned Frogs were regarded as one of the weakest teams in the conference in those days, and a loss to TCU was devastating for a program as proud as Arkansas'.

I was a student at Arkansas at the time, and I can assure you that there was little enthusiasm on the campus for that game with Texas. But the Razorbacks surprised everyone with a 42–11 rout.

Half a dozen years earlier, there was a similar feeling as the Razorbacks prepared to face Texas A&M in the regular–season finale. The undefeated Aggies had beaten the rival Longhorns the week before; Arkansas was in the midst of a seven–year losing streak to Texas and had already lost to the Longhorns.

The winner of the game would be bound for the Cotton Bowl — which may not sound like much now, but in those days, it was the reward for winning the Southwest Conference.

And the winner was Arkansas, 31–6. So the Hogs came to Dallas to face Georgia in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1976, and won that game, too, 31–10.

A few years later, Arkansas came close to winning the SWC but came up short — thanks to another loss to Texas. The Razorbacks were invited to play #2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on New Year's night, a game that didn't attract much attention in the days leading up to it, in large part because coach Lou Holtz had suspended three starters for rules violations.

The Vegas oddsmakers took the game off the board, assuming that OU would crush Arkansas. But, instead, it was Arkansas that won the game in a romp, 31–6.

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Well, there have been great moments — and crushing defeats — in the years since.

But it seems the Razorbacks have been making fewer appearances in the rankings than they used to. They seemed to be on an upward trajectory a few years ago, when Darren McFadden was the runnerup in the Heisman Trophy voting two years in a row, but they slipped back when McFadden left and Arkansas went through a coaching change.

Now, however, all is right with Razorback Nation again.

The season begins this week, and the Associated Press has Arkansas ranked 17th. Five other Southeastern Conference teams are in the AP's Top 25 — but only two are ranked ahead of the Hogs, and only one of those teams (defending national champion Alabama) will face Arkansas during the regular season.

I've got to admit I've been fantasizing about an SEC title and maybe even a berth in the national championship game, but I'm far from the only one. It really is nice to be able to eagerly anticipate a football season again, but I think we all need to take a minute or two and remember that there are many obstacles to overcome.

For one, the Razorbacks may be playing in the most competitive division in the most competitive conference in the nation. Two other schools from their division — LSU and Auburn — are in the Top 25, and another one (Ole Miss) got some votes in the poll. The only school in the division that seems likely to be a "breather" — at least by comparison — is Mississippi State, but anyone who watches SEC football knows there are no breathers in that conference.

At some point, I believe MSU will be the "spoiler" for someone. It might well be Arkansas.

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And, while there is a lot of talk among Arkansas fans these days about the Heisman prospects for strong–armed quarterback Ryan Mallett, people do get hurt playing football, and many good football teams have seen their hopes go down in flames because a key player was injured.

I hope the Razorbacks can successfully negotiate the mine field that the SEC schedule can be. And I hope no one crucial to the team — least of all its Heisman prospect at QB — gets hurt.

All I can do is hope.

Football Memories

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I've been writing at my other blogs of my friend Phyllis, who died last week.

I think it shall be hard for me, this fall, to watch a football game without thinking of Phyllis.

Last night, I was on the phone with a mutual friend, also named David, who is in my hometown making preparations for Phyllis' memorial service. We only recently reconnected through Facebook — largely because of Phyllis' illness and death — and much of our conversation focused on people and places and things I really hadn't thought much about since I was in high school.

Sports played a modest role in my relationship with Phyllis. She was in the marching band for many years so she was always performing at football games. I wasn't in the band, and, to be honest, I rarely went to my high school's football games when I was a sophomore or a junior — but I will admit that my attendance rate did go up considerably when I was a senior and I was dating a girl who also was in the band.

Phyllis enjoyed sports, but we didn't always share the same passions — in her later years, for example, she apparently became a NASCAR fan, which seems to be a very Southern thing even though it is a sport I've never really been able to appreciate. Phyllis tried to tell me about it, and I'm going to try to watch it in the future. And, when I do, I will pull for Jimmie Johnson — Phyllis' favorite driver — but I doubt I will ever be able to work up the kind of enthusiasm for NASCAR that Phyllis had.

At one point, our conversation turned to Phyllis' mother, who told David to ask me if I remembered staying at their house one New Year's Eve when I was in college. I had been visiting my grandmother in Dallas during the Christmas holidays, and an ice storm came through at the end of December.

My parents were living in northwest Arkansas. Before the year was over, I made the decision to transfer there, but on this occasion, I was going to college in my hometown, and, when the dorms were closed, I had no place to stay.

That put a lot of pressure on me because the dorms were set to reopen the day after New Year's. At some time on New Year's Eve, I made the decision to drive to Conway (with my car loaded down with my stuff) and spend the night at Phyllis' house.

(I figure I must have had at least one phone conversation with Phyllis before I left my grandmother's home, but that memory escapes me now.)

As I recall, it was a pretty low profile New Year's Eve. I didn't drink any champagne — guess I was still too young to buy alcohol in those days, and I was tired from my 300–plus mile trip, anyway. I don't think any of us stayed up to see the new year in.

But the next day, I remember watching the Cotton Bowl game on TV with Phyllis' mother — and marveling that I had driven from Dallas to Conway the day before.

The game was a classic. Joe Montana led Notre Dame to a stirring come–from–behind victory over Houston. Notre Dame scored 22 points in the final quarter, including a touchdown on the final play, and I remember watching it all with Phyllis' mother — and yelling until we were practically hoarse.

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A year later, I was living in Fayetteville, Ark., where I finished work on my bachelor's degree.

But, before I left Conway, I returned to Phyllis' home that fall to watch the Arkansas–Texas game with Phyllis, her mother, and a friend and high school classmate named Ellen. Others may have been there, too. I simply don't remember.

We were all Arkansas fans, and the Razorbacks had lost to Texas for seven straight years. But they prevailed that afternoon.

The way we all yelled and hugged, you would have thought we were on the sidelines or at least in the stands and not watching in Phyllis' living room.

Those are memories I will always cherish.

A Memorable Afternoon

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Part of the college experience for most people is Saturday afternoon football games.

This Saturday will be the anniversary of one of the most memorable games of my college days — and I hope it turns out to be every bit as memorable for those who are students now on the campus of my alma mater.

It isn't the kind of thing that can be duplicated for succeeding generations. But my college experience would have been completely different without it.

I graduated from the University of Arkansas. And it was on October 17 in 1981 that the Razorbacks defeated their arch rivals, the Texas Longhorns, who were ranked #1 in the nation, by the lopsided score of 42–11. I went to many Razorback games when I was in college, and I don't think I ever heard the home fans cheer as loudly as they did on that day.

Maybe that's because the whole thing was such an astonishingly unexpected event.

Arkansas wasn't ranked. Two weeks earlier, the Razorbacks lost to perennial Southwest Conference doormat TCU for the first time in my lifetime. To lifelong Razorback fans, it was embarrassing. Things are different now, but back then, it was a disgrace for a team that was usually a contender for the conference title, as Arkansas was, to lose to a team in the lower tier of the SWC. And TCU definitely occupied the lower tier.

The Hogs bounced back with a 26–14 victory over Texas Tech the next week, but the unbeaten — and seemingly unbeatable — Texas Longhorns were next on the schedule.

I was living off campus in those days, and the girl who was going to the game with me was living in one of the dorms. I remember calling her and telling her that I didn't think I would go to the game that day. Like most Arkansas fans, I thought the Hogs were going to lose to the powerful Longhorns.

But she told me to come on over to the dorm and we would see how we felt when the 2:30 kickoff drew near. So I agreed to come over, although I still didn't think I would go to the game. But we talked about it and, in the end, we decided to go.

If it turned into a blowout, we agreed, we would leave. Her dorm, after all, wasn't too far from the stadium. And I admit that I was far from certain that we would stay past halftime. It turned out our seats were just across the aisle from where the huge University of Texas marching band was seated. I made a mental resolution: If the score was as out of hand as I expected and I wasn't deaf from hearing repeated playings of "The Eyes of Texas" in the first half, I should leave and count my blessings.

Well, we didn't leave the stadium at halftime. The score was out of hand, but not in Texas' favor. The Razorbacks had taken a commanding lead, and the fans were raucous. The band had been mostly quiet in the first half, and my hearing was still intact.

So we stayed. And I am glad we did. It was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything.

I found the attached clip of game highlights, and it brought back some memories of that afternoon. It's interesting, though, that whoever compiled that YouTube clip chose Michael Jackson's "Beat It" as the background music. Fact is, that song wasn't recorded until the following year so, even though it may be an energetic theme, it really isn't an appropriate one. The jubilant Razorback fans in Fayetteville that day couldn't possibly have listened to it at their victory parties that night since it didn't exist yet.

Perhaps a better tune would have been Christopher Cross' "Arthur's Theme," which was the top–selling song on Billboard's charts at the time. It might be a more subdued melody, but it is more representative of what people were listening to.

A few memories stand out from that day:

• Through most of the time I was growing up, Southwest Conference schools ran the ball. Throwing the ball was something you did if you were way behind. And some coaches apparently had too much pride to throw the ball even if they were far behind. Frank Broyles, for example, was coach of the Razorbacks until I was in high school, and I have few memories of the Razorbacks throwing the ball — even when they trailed by huge margins.
  
  I vividly recall listening to radio coverage of Arkansas' season opener when Lou Holtz took over for Broyles. On the first offensive play, Holtz called a deep pass. The sharp intake of breath from the capacity crowd was clearly audible.
  
  On that afternoon in 1981, Holtz was able to run a more conservative offense, but, because of the score, Texas was forced to abandon its running game, eventually setting a school record for pass attempts in a game. Many of those passes were incomplete, which stopped the clock and prolonged the game.


• It was starting to get dark by the time the game ended. Visibility was restricted for everyone, including the TV audience. In those days, Razorback Stadium had lights that were adequate only for practice sessions, not for illuminating a field for TV cameras.
  
  Here in the 21st century, it may be hard to imagine a stadium that isn't equipped with lights that make it possible to play there at night. But they were still around in 1981, and Razorback Stadium was one of them.


• I don't think I have ever been to a game that had as many shifts in the weather conditions. If you watch the clips, you'll see that, at some points, the field was bathed in sunlight. At other times, when clouds — and even some rain — went through, it got a little dark.
  
  There were even times when the area was under a tornado watch.
  
  It was never announced over the P.A. system, and the fans who didn't have radios with them didn't know that at the time. But the ones with radios weren't exactly making their way to the exits.
  
  This was Razorback football. The opponent was the hated Texas Longhorns, who were the top–ranked team in the nation that day. TV cameras were broadcasting the game to the outside world.
  
  And the Hogs were winning.
  
  For Razorback fans, no better conditions could be imagined for one's last moments. I can only assume that those who did know we were under a tornado watch decided it was worth the risk.


• When I was growing up, Texas was the source of a lot of frustration for Razorback fans. Nearly every year, the Longhorns beat the Razorbacks, often decisively — and that win over Arkansas usually gave Texas the conference title.
  
  In the years leading up to that memorable afternoon in 1981, Texas had run off a streak of seven straight wins over Arkansas. The Razorbacks ended that skid with a three–point win over Texas in Little Rock two years earlier, but then they seemed to resume their old ways when the series returned to Austin in 1980, giving Texas eight wins over Arkansas in the 10 years prior to that memorable afternoon in Razorback Stadium.
  
  So, on that afternoon, Arkansas fans were ready to celebrate. They tried to tear down one of the goal posts, but they couldn't quite manage it. The goal post apparently was made of metal, and the fans only managed to distort it into a bizarre dangling wishbone shape that I could see for several days as I walked past the dorms that stood at the top of the hill looking down on the stadium.

This Saturday, there will be a few clear differences between the game Arkansas will play against #1 Florida and the game the Razorbacks played against Texas in 1981.

For one, the Florida game is a road game for Arkansas. The Texas game was played at home.

For another, the top ranking in the nation hasn't been the revolving door in 2009 that it was in 1981. By mid–October of that year, Texas was the fourth team to be ranked #1. Unless I have missed something, the Gators have been ranked #1 all along.

Yet another difference is that, while Arkansas lost to a lightly regarded foe two weeks before the Razorbacks played Texas in 1981, Arkansas' two losses this year have been against teams that were ranked — Georgia and Alabama.

One more noteworthy difference: In 1981 — and this could be the most important factor for Razorback fans — Texas brought a healthy squad to Fayetteville. The Gators are led by a quarterback who has won a Heisman Trophy and two national titles in his collegiate career — but he suffered a concussion against Kentucky weekend before last and played in spite of it against LSU this past weekend.

That flew in the face of what modern authorities on sports injuries tend to recommend for concussion victims. They usually recommend that football players who have had concussions sit out the next game.

Will that affect Tim Tebow's performance against the Razorbacks? That remains to be seen. Arkansas' defense hasn't been particularly impressive this season, but I don't think it has been panned as much as it was after the TCU loss in 1981.

And, if Arkansas' explosive offense isn't held in check by Florida's defense, that may put more pressure on Florida to be productive.

Florida certainly has shown that its offense can put points on the board. And, if Tebow is 100%, beating Florida may prove to be too great a challenge for the Razorbacks.

But a lifetime of watching the Razorbacks has taught me never to count them out — even if the foe is the top–ranked team in the nation.

Common sense says Florida probably will win. But I'll be watching, anyway.

Just in case.

Arkansas Has Rare Opportunity Against Texas

I must admit I was disappointed, but now I realize it simply means a greater opportunity.

My alma mater, the University of Arkansas, pulled off its most significant basketball win in recent times by beating fourth-ranked (and previously unbeaten) Oklahoma, 96-88, on December 30.

But when the next polls came out, Arkansas hadn't received any votes for the Top 25 — and OU hadn't budged from its position at #4.

Now, the Razorbacks have an opportunity to beat two Top 10 basketball programs within a week of each other — and, hopefully, break into the Top 25 in the process.

Eighth-ranked Texas (11-2) faces unranked Arkansas (11-1) on ESPN at 8:05 p.m. (Central).

If you grew up in Arkansas before the Razorbacks left the old Southwest Conference in the early 1990s, any competition between Arkansas and Texas will bring back memories of autumn afternoons on the gridiron or winter nights in the fieldhouse.

When I was a little boy, Arkansas-Texas was significant only in football. Once football season was over, neither school seemed to exist until September rolled around.

But, when I was in junior high school, something amazing started happening. Arkansas and Texas became competitive in basketball and, by the time I was in high school, the Razorbacks were competing on a national level, advancing to the Final Four for the first time in 30 years.

And, in my college years, the Razorbacks were always playing in the NCAA Tournament.

They battled Larry Bird and Indiana State to the very last second for a trip to the Final Four.

They knocked off Louisville, the defending national champion, with a midcourt shot at the buzzer — years before such a shot would count for three points.

And every year, it seemed, the Razorbacks and the Longhorns met in the SWC's postseason tournament — which inevitably gave the schools three meetings in basketball in a single season.

As a writer from Sports Illustrated observed at the time, that was two more shootouts in a season than the schools' fabled football coaches, Darrell Royal and Frank Broyles, ever had, even in their best years.

The schools haven't faced each other regularly in any sport for 16 or 17 years now. But this academic year is resembling the days of my youth — last fall, the football teams met in Austin, Texas (in a game that was postponed for a couple of weeks by Hurricane Ike), and, on Tuesday night, the basketball teams will face each other in Fayetteville, Ark.

As familiar as the scene appears to an old Razorback fan like myself, I know it won't last. Both teams will revert rapidly to their current roles, and the memories of the old SWC will recede.

Texas opens its Big 12 schedule Saturday at home against 10-4 Iowa State. After that, the Longhorns have a couple of challenging road games, at 13-1 Oklahoma on January 12 and at 10-4 Texas Tech on January 17, followed by a home game against an old football rival, 13-1 Texas A&M on January 24.

For Arkansas, the SEC schedule also begins Saturday. The Razorbacks host 9-5 Mississippi State, then they also must go on a two-game road trip — to 9-5 Ole Miss on January 14 and 12-2 Florida on January 17. Arkansas will be at home on January 24 against Auburn (10-4).

In the meantime, both teams come into the game with certain things they do much better than the other.

Texas, for example, is one of the best teams in the nation when it comes to blocking shots. The Longhorns average 6.3 per game, which is 13th in the country. Senior Connor Atchley is responsible for nearly one-third of those blocked shots.

The Longhorns are 43rd in the nation in rebounds, averaging 43.2. Junior Damion James averages 8.4, and sophomore Gary Johnson accounts for 7.4.

Texas also ranks 64th in avoiding turnovers, averaging 12.8 per game.

The Razorbacks are 12th in the nation in scoring, averaging 82.7 points per game — they're 39th in field goals made (27.8 — same as UConn and a full field goal more than Texas).

But Arkansas is way down the list in average field goal attempts per game (96th while Texas is 73rd). And lots of field goals made combined with not too many attempts means the Razorbacks are in the Top 50 in field goal percentage (47.4%).

The Razorbacks have always been solid in scoring, though. But an encouraging development for long-time Arkansas fans is clear improvement in both free-throw shooting and rebounding.

Currently, the Razorbacks are sixth in the nation in free throws made (20.1). That may be due, in part, to the job they've done at drawing fouls. They're second in the nation in free throw attempts (30.7). Now, I'll grant you that their 65% accuracy rate isn't one of the nation's best, but it's not bad when you consider that they're attempting nearly 31 free throws per game.

And it's a distinct improvement over what the Razorbacks did from the free-throw line when I was a student.

Arkansas is also 17th in rebounding (44.9), thanks in large part to junior Michael Washington, who is 18th in the nation (10.4).

Freshman Courtney Fortson is 16th in the nation in assists (6.4), and he had one of his best games of the season against Oklahoma, accounting for 10 that night. As a team, Arkansas is 69th in assists, with an average of 15.3.

Can the Razorbacks do it? They'll be playing in front of an enthusiastic home crowd and a national TV audience.

As someone who's seen more Razorback basketball games than he can recall, I say this — it can be done.

A Painful Memory

Today, during the first half of the Alabama-Florida game, they mentioned that this was the first time in 39 years that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Associated Press poll faced each other in December.

I remember that game. It occurred exactly 39 years ago today, December 6, in 1969. It was the Arkansas-Texas game.

Some folks called it "The Game of the Century." And some folks called it "The Great Shootout."

I grew up in Conway, Ark., which is in the central part of the state, and the Arkansas campus, where the game was played, is in the northwest corner of the state, about 120 miles away.

But geography doesn't matter in Arkansas. Whether you live in Texarkana to the southwest, Blytheville to the northeast or Monticello to the southeast or anywhere in between, just about everyone pulls for the Razorbacks.

And, in 1969, there was no cable. There were only the three major networks — and some restrictive regulations that limited the number of TV appearances a program could make during the regular season.

ABC's Roone Arledge made a deal with Arkansas coach/athletic director Frank Broyles to move the game to the end of the season, meaning an exclusive national viewing audience — and Arledge threw in a pledge that the president, Richard Nixon, would attend the game in person.

Arledge also promised to televise Arkansas' season opener the next year, which was against Jim Plunkett and Stanford.

In return, Broyles had to assure Arledge the footing would be good, so he installed AstroTurf at Razorback Stadium.

It was a gamble that Arkansas and Texas would win the rest of their games and play in a showdown of unbeaten teams as the regular-season finale for college football's 100th season.

The gamble paid off. Both teams were unbeaten. Nixon arrived after the kickoff, but in time to see most of the game. He was accompanied by politicians from both states, including a young representative from Texas named George H.W. Bush.

It's hard to imagine, these days, how incredible the hype was for the game. In their book "The Razorbacks," veteran Arkansas sportswriters Jim Bailey and Orville Henry called it "The Day The Nation Watched," and it truly was.

The day was raw and damp, as I recall. We lived in a hilly area and depended on the old-fashioned TV antenna to pick up signals from the Little Rock stations. The weather interfered with the TV signals and, at one point during the game, the wind and the rain knocked it loose. The picture suddenly went haywire.

My father decided to climb up on the roof to re-attach the antenna. I remember watching him climb up the ladder and make his way to the apex of the roof while the wind swirled around him and a cold rain stung him from time to time. From below, my mother called up instructions to him, advising my father not to electrocute himself.

Somehow, he fixed the antenna and we watched the rest of the game from the comfort of our living room. In the cold and the rain in Fayetteville, Texas rallied from a 14-0 deficit with 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and won the game, 15-14.

Nixon came down to Texas' locker room and proclaimed the Longhorns the national champions — even though they still had a Cotton Bowl date with Notre Dame on New Year's Day.

The pain in Arkansas the following week was almost too great to describe.

Actually, a much better memory of a December 6 — for Arkansas fans — came six years later. In Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium, Arkansas upset previously unbeaten and second-ranked Texas A&M, 31-6, to win the Southwest Conference and advance to the Cotton Bowl, where the Razorbacks beat the Georgia Bulldogs, 31-10.

A Blast From The Past

A couple of weeks ago, Hurricane Ike rearranged my football-viewing plans.

Of course, the fact is that the hurricane rearranged quite a few lives, and its effect on me was minimal.

Nevertheless, I had intended, on Sept. 13, to watch my alma mater, the University of Arkansas, play the University of Texas in a football game.

The hurricane forced the schools to postpone the game. It was re-scheduled for this Saturday. And, as I understand it, ABC will televise the game at 2:30 p.m. (Central).

If you didn't grow up in Arkansas, you have no idea what the Arkansas-Texas rivalry meant in the days when both schools were members of the old Southwest Conference and faced each other in every sport.

For that matter, as Wally Hall observes at WholeHogSports.com, "[T]here is now an entire generation of people who were born and raised in Arkansas who don’t hate the Texas Longhorns."

That astonishes me.

As Hall writes, "Until the time Arkansas left for the SEC, the majority of the Razorbacks nation circled the Texas game as soon as the schedules were printed. Now, an entire generation has been deprived of the pure joy of hating the Longhorns, whose fan base generally bordered on arrogant."

When I was a little boy, the Razorbacks won a share of the mythical national championship in football in 1964. They shared the title with Alabama (coached by the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant), but they wouldn't have been in the position to share the national title at all if Ken Hatfield hadn't returned a punt for a touchdown against Texas.

Arkansas won, 14-13, and went on to beat Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl (back in the days when winning the Cotton Bowl really meant something).

Five years later, for college football's centennial season, ABC persuaded Arkansas and Texas to move their game from its normal schedule date in mid-October to the first weekend in December — when no one else was playing and the eyes of the nation would be focused on that game alone.

In hindsight, it seems preordained that the game — dubbed the "Game of the Century" at the time — would feature the #1- and #2-ranked teams in the nation — and, indeed, ABC made the offer to the schools anticipating that they would be the top two teams in the country when they met.

But only two weeks before the "Great Shootout," as the game also was known, Ohio State was the top-ranked team in the nation. When the Buckeyes lost to their rival, Michigan, it secured the #1 vs. #2 matchup between Texas and Arkansas that ABC had been hoping for.

President Nixon attended the game — the only time a sitting president came to a football game in Fayetteville — and gave the Longhorns a plaque naming them the national champions after they prevailed, 15-14. Future President George H.W. Bush (at the time, a Republican congressman from Texas) also attended the game, along with many political figures from both states.

I guess ABC wanted to catch some more lightning in a bottle the next year because, once again, the Arkansas-Texas game was moved to the first weekend in December.

But, whereas the 1969 game was a dramatic, sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat experience for football fans, the 1970 game in Austin was a lopsided affair.

I was 11 years old at the time, and my most vivid memory from watching that game on TV was from the first half. Texas had already scored, and Arkansas had the ball near the Texas goal line. The Razorbacks made four attempts to score and failed on each attempt, turning the ball over on downs.

I recall one of the adults who had been watching the game with us standing up and observing that, if Arkansas couldn't score in four opportunities inside the 10-yard line, it was going to be a long afternoon. Indeed, it was. Texas won the game, 42-7, but failed to repeat as national champion.

For most of the next 10 years, Arkansas and Texas played their game in mid-October, as they had been doing for decades, although the schools were persuaded to move the game to December again in 1976, a year after Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M shared the SWC championship.

But 1976 proved to be a down year for both schools, and the only real significance of the game was the fact that it turned out to be the last in which Darrell Royal coached Texas and Frank Broyles coached Arkansas.

The networks persuaded the schools to move their game again for the 1980 season — although, this time, it was moved up on the calendar instead of down. The schools agreed to play each other on Labor Day — September 1.

It was Texas' turn to host so the game was played in Austin.

It's always hot in Texas at the end of August. But, if you're old enough to remember the summer of 1980, you know that it was a particularly brutal one. In Texas, which typically sees temperatures in the mid- to upper 90s in the summer, temperatures were well over 100 degrees for about six or seven weeks.

And, although temperatures had cooled off slightly by September 1, it was still an unbelievably hot atmosphere in which to play a football game — especially one as intense as the Arkansas-Texas game. While the game was played at night, the sun didn't go down until halftime and the temperatures never really cooled down. Some players on both sides appeared to be on the verge of giving in to heat exhaustion.

Texas won, 23-17, and Arkansas limped through the rest of the season.

I will never forget the game that was played the next season. I was a senior at Arkansas, and I went to the Arkansas-Texas game for the first time in my life. It was played in Fayetteville in mid-October.

I almost didn't attend that game. A couple of weeks earlier, Arkansas had lost to TCU for the first time in my lifetime. Texas, meanwhile, was ranked #1, and everyone thought Texas was going to administer a severe beating when the Longhorns came to town.

I had my ticket (purchased before the season started at the student discount rate), but I hadn't decided to go the morning of the game. At the last minute, I decided to go. I'm glad I did. Lou Holtz led the Razorbacks to an astonishing 42-11 victory that is still talked about among long-time Razorback fans 27 years later.

Even Hall mentions it in his pregame column.

And he points out that "Since Arkansas joined the SEC, no opponent has come close to creating the same burning desire" the rivalry with Texas did.

Not LSU. Not Alabama. Not even Ole Miss, which was something of a non-conference rival for a long time — and may become even more of a rival now that former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt is the Rebels' coach.

I don't know if Saturday's game will recapture the old feeling. And, if it's a blowout, I may abandon it early.

But I'll be watching.