It’s officially Texas Week. By that, I mean it’s the week that the University of Arkansas Razorbacks take on the Texas Longhorns in college football. It occurs to me it wasn’t that long ago there was no need to explain “Texas Week.” The phrase was universally understood in every nook and cranny in the state and brought Arkansans together in a way that was nothing short of a religious experience.
Back in the days before Arkansas joined the Southeast Conference, the Hogs competed in the good old Southwest Conference (SWC.) The SWC was basically a group of schools from Texas (University of Texas, Rice, Texas Christian University, Texas A&M and Baylor) and our beloved Razorbacks. Over the years a heated rivalry developed between the Hogs and the Horns.
Nobody knows for sure when the rivalry started, although it probably reached its peak in the mid 60s when the Great Shootout was played in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
This was a national championship game played before a capacity crowd and a national television audience. President Richard Nixon was there as well. It was a tremendous game that was settled by a freak play that gave the Longhorns the victory. The game was cussed and discussed for years thereafter and was the cause of many a barroom brawl throughout both states.
Although the rivalry may have peaked then, it continued well into the 1980s. I once attended a Texas game in Fayetteville in 1981. Texas was the number-one-ranked team in the country at the time and the Hogs were a two-touchdown underdog.
One thing I’ll never forget about that day is the excitement generated by the student body. Texas Week had begun with a bonfire on Monday night and pep rallies every weeknight before the Saturday game. The night before the game, several Razorback players spoke to the throng of students and they all exhibited this happy-go-lucky attitude that beamed self-confidence.
The students at the pep rally were like sponges and the players’ words like fresh water. Everything the players said was met with resounding cheers and chants of “Beat Texas” broke out at random throughout the evening. The players finally had their say and the cheerleaders led the throng in as-loud-of-a-Hog call as I’ve ever heard.
The excitement from the pep rally carried forward to game day. People started filing into the stadium a good three hours before kickoff and the arena was 90 percent full when the players took the field for pre-game warm-ups. As I recall, the bleachers in the student section didn’t get much use that day, because nobody took a seat for the entire game.
By the time the marching Razorback band completed the fight song and the cheer squad called the Hogs one last time before kickoff, the 50,000 Razorback faithful had been worked into a cheering frenzy. It was so loud at Razorback Stadium that cool Fall afternoon that it wouldn’t have surprised me at all if the noise could have been heard in downtown Fort Smith.
The Longhorns won the toss and received the opening kickoff. The mighty Texas offense sauntered onto the field and glared down their noses at the undersized and under-appreciated Arkansas defense. Three plays into the game a young man named Billy Ray Smith Jr. recovered a Texas fumble and the inspired Razorback offense quickly scored the game’s first touchdown. Another possession and another Longhorn turnover, and the rout was on.
When the final gun sounded, the underdog Hogs had defeated the top-ranked Longhorns 41 - 7. The jubilant Razorback players literally danced with joy and the fans came pouring onto the field. The public address announcer tried in vain to persuade people to return to their seats, but to no avail. By then it was a party and there was no stopping it.
The goal post in the south end zone was the first to go, followed by the one in the north end zone. It was reported that the students carried one of the goal posts across campus and paraded it up and down the infamous Dixon Street until near dawn the next day.
But that was many years ago, and years before the Hogs changed conferences. If my math’s correct, this year’s U of A’s senior class wasn’t even born when the goal posts came tumbling down and to most of them, The Big Shootout was something that happened when Tupac Shukar was gunned down in Las Vegas.
It’s Texas Week in Arkansas all right, but something tells me it just won’t be the same. Something also tells me I may be getting old. Well, I’ve only got two words from Mr. Something. “Beat Texas.”