Arkansas football continues its 2024 season against No. 3 Texas in just four days at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, and Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke to the media Monday to preview the matchup.
In their debut SEC season, the Longhorns have dominated most competition besides a 30-15 loss to Georgia and a 27-24 nail-biting win against Vanderbilt. Texas has defeated teams like Michigan, Mississippi State, Oklahoma and Florida handily.
Under Sarkisian's leadership, Texas has accumulated a 33-15 (17-10 Big 12, 4-1 SEC) overall record with a 12-win, College Football Playoff season a year ago. This season, the Longhorns boast the No. 9 total offense (465.2 YPG) and No. 10 passing offense (301.1 YPG) in the country.
This will mark the 80th meeting between the two teams, as Texas leads the series 56-23. The Razorbacks have won the last two matchups, with the most recent coming in 2021, a 40-21 victory in Fayetteville.
Here's everything Sarkisian had to say about Pittman, the Razorbacks and his team:
On Arkansas' 2021 win over Texas being an eye-opener:
Sarkisian: “In going back, I always try to revisit some of those games even from years past just to get a sense and a feel. The frustrating part of that game more than anything is, we didn't play great. But then you look up and you watch the game, you forget it's the middle of the third quarter and it's 16-7 and we were playing hard, we just weren't playing great.
"I think it's two-fold, yeah we obviously wanted to upgrade as best we could the roster, especially from a depth perspective. And then as the game wore on, a couple explosive plays kind of kicked into play, unfortunately we didn't make some of our own. But the competitiveness of our team, I thought we fought in the game. But naturally, okay, what do we need to do? I thought it was good, not only for myself but for the staff and for our players to say, 'okay, that's an SEC team.'
"At the time, they weren't at the top of the SEC, there were some pretty good teams still there. So we had a hill to climb to get where we wanted to get to, so it feels pretty good knowing that we're going in there this year with what we think is a little better roster. A little better understanding from a coaching staff perspective of what's going to be needed in that environment. It's a very tough environment. But what's going to be needed from an emotional and mental standpoint, but also from a physical standpoint."
On the Arkansas-Texas rivalry being underrated:
Sarkisian: “I think it might be underrated nationally. I don't know if it's going to get the same exposure that it would nationally. But I would tell you, internally it's getting the same amount that's needed, that it deserves. This rivalry has been going on for a long, long time. I was joking with the team this morning, I don't know what Darrell Royal did to Arkansas back in the day, but they absolutely hate our guts and I think we learned that the first time around when we went there.
"You watch some of the clips of the end of that game and Joe Tessitore is talking about Arkansas hates Texas more than they like themselves, and he might be right. So, I think from our perspective, internally, we understand and value this rivalry. It's great to have back, great for the state of Texas, great for the state of Arkansas.
"I wish nationally it probably got the exposure that this thing deserves. There's been some great games historically that these two teams have butted heads on. Obviously we're looking forward to the opportunity."
On Sarkisian's first time facing a Bobby Petrino offense in 1996:
Sarkisian: “Man, you know what I remember in that game? And this might take a minute. So in that game, at the end of the first half, we were kind of in one of those situations where, how much time is on the clock? There might have been 15 or 20 seconds, we were out of timeouts. We took a timeout, we're on the sideline.
"Here's myself, here's Norm Chow, our offensive coordinator, Robbie Bosco, everyone's trying to decide what to call. There can be no aggreance on what was happening. And LaVell Edwards, rarely would he step in on the play calls, he's very CEO-like. He said, 'Well Sark, what do you want to run?' And I can't remember what I said, then he goes, 'Well that's what we're running.' Then he walked off and so it was the first time I got to call a play in my life.
"But the value in that, what I do remember is like, when you can really start to trust your players and the players feel your trust as a coach, you start to get more out of them."
On Arkansas QB Taylen Green:
Sarkisian: “First of all, he's huge. A guy his size and can run the way that he runs, sometimes you don't think he's covering as much ground as he is, but the stride length is so long that he's able to cover ground. The explosive plays that he uses with his legs, his ability to make all the throws down the field.
"Coach Petrino is an elite offensive play caller and offensive schemer, so they put him in really good positions when they're in the zone-read game, the quarterback run game. They put him in really good positions for the shots down the field and the dropback pass game, so you have to defend a lot of offense. Then when you get a guy like him running it, it can be extremely challenging."
