ARLINGTON, Texas — Fifteen years ago next week, Arkansas football fans had to be feeling pretty giddy.
Their Razorbacks had an offensive mastermind in Coach Bobby Petrino, a home-grown quarterback in future NFL product Ryan Mallett and what surely felt like an up-and-coming team.
Sure enough, the Razorbacks bounced back from consecutive SEC losses to Georgia and Alabama to crush Texas A&M 47-19 on Oct. 3, 2009, in the renewal of the Southwest Classic in the brand-new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, built by Arkansas alumnus and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Two more seasons under Petrino produced a 21-5 record — the best mini golden era for Arkansas football during its SEC existence — and two more wins over the Aggies in what was familiarly called Jerry World that became named AT&T Stadium in 2013.
At that point, Arkansas enjoyed a 44-24-3 lead in the series with its long-time Southwest Conference rival.
Then the Aggies joined the SEC along with Missouri in 2012.
And soon the Aggie jokes dried up in Arkansas.
With Petrino out of the picture, Texas A&M and dynamic quarterback Johnny Manziel put a 58-10 whipping on Arkansas in College Station, Texas, in the Aggies’ SEC debut season. The Aggies also won 45-33 in Fayetteville the following year leading to wins in 11 of the last 12 games in the series, with eight of those coming in Arlington.
The final game in the series at AT&T Stadium for the foreseeable future and possibly forever will take place at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The Razorbacks (3-1, 1-0 SEC) and the No. 24 Aggies (3-1, 1-0) will resume playing the series on their campuses next fall in Fayetteville.
Arkansas holds a 21-10-2 lead in the series in its home state, but is 4-9 against Texas A&M in Arlington.
Razorbacks Coach Sam Pittman won in his Arlington debut in the series 20-10 in 2021, but has dropped two in a row since then.
“I don’t know how many we’ve won. How many have we?” Pittman asked at his Monday news conference.
When apprised that the win tally was one in the series since the Aggies joined the SEC, Pittman replied, “So obviously it hasn’t been a great series for us. But there’s excitement in recruiting about the game. There’s excitement for the players.
“So as grateful as we are for going to Dallas, it’s the last time obviously and we’d like to win it and bring the trophy back.”
Speaking of trophies, Arkansas has been in a drought on that front since sweeping its trophy games in 2021 over Texas A&M, LSU and Missouri. Arkansas is on a six-game losing streak in regular-season trophy games since downing Missouri 34-17 in the 2021 finale.
Jones, an offensive lineman on the Razorbacks’ national championship team in 1964, seems to smile a little brighter when he or his son Stephen hands the Southwest Classic Trophy to Arkansas, but that has been a rare occurrence the last dozen years.
Texas A&M Coach Mike Elko told his players to enjoy the finale in Arlington whether they like Jones and the Cowboys or not.
“I told our guys … in a joking manner, if you’re a Cowboys fan, it’s the last chance you get to go up there and play a game in Cowboys Stadium,” Elko said. “If you’re not a Cowboys fan, it’s the last chance you get to go up to beat Jerry Jones’ team in Cowboys Stadium.
“It works both ways, whether you like the Cowboys or not. We’re excited for the opportunity, excited to go up there and put our best brand of football on display.”
Pittman’s club will be playing at its fifth venue in five weeks, following games in Little Rock; Stillwater, Okla.; Fayetteville; and Auburn, Ala.
The fact that two other SEC schools will not have left their campuses in the same five-week span is not lost on Pittman, who has reconciled the fact the neutral-site game is falling off the books.
“We have a lot of Texas kids and we’re going back to Dallas and playing in the stadium with a great alumnus in Mr. Jones,” Pittman said. “But to be honest with you, with Little Rock and with Dallas, we’re playing one game out of the first five at home and Auburn’s going to play five in a row at home.
“I believe that it’s really hard to get the fanbase excited if they don’t have an opportunity to see the Hogs. This would give an opportunity, at least one more every other year, to have a home game.”
Petrino, now back at Arkansas in his first year as offensive coordinator for Pittman, has a chance to remain unbeaten in the venue as a head coach or assistant. He was on Jimbo Fisher’s staff at Texas A&M last season for a 34-22 win over Arkansas.
Petrino was 4-0 in Arlington as the Razorbacks’ head coach, having swept the Aggies between 2009-11 and also capping the 2011 season with a 29-16 win over Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl in his final game. That was the exclamation mark on an 11-2 season which finished with the Razorbacks ranked No. 5 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Petrino was fired the following spring, Texas A&M joined the SEC that summer and Arkansas football has basically been in catch-up mode ever since. The games against the Aggies, filled with a series of frustrating one-score losses, could largely symbolize the mood of the last decade.
“The past two years we should have finished (the A&M game),” said defensive tackle Cam Ball, a rare Razorback who was on the roster the last time the Razorbacks beat the Aggies. “We know we didn’t play our best game, and it’s enough motivation already that this will be the last time we play in the stadium. So, that’s my motivation going to this weekend. I want that trophy.”
The Razorbacks have opened the season in solid fashion, beating Auburn 24-14 on the road last week to help atone for the sting of outperforming No. 16 Oklahoma State on the stat sheet but falling 39-31 in double overtime two weeks earlier.
Linebacker Stephen Dix said the Hogs have re-focused from the high of snatching five takeaways from Auburn.
“When we have success from the week before, we like to acknowledge it and then we like to put it aside and move on to the next obstacle,” Dix said. “If anything, I think it just gives us motivation knowing that we have everything that we need to really go far in this league. We’ve just got to stay disciplined, stay consistent and keep chopping wood.”
As much as the Razorbacks have gained from exposure in the Dallas Metroplex and maintaining a close association with the Jones family, there have been collateral issues complicating the series.
In addition to the narrow losses and yearly travel, the finances have an impact.
Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek, speaking Wednesday at the Hawgs Illustrated Sports Club, spoke to the importance of having conference games at home.
“When it first started … it was a nonconference game and then they became a member of the Southeastern Conference,” Yurachek said. “And you really don’t want your conference games being played at neutral sites. You don’t see many conference games (not played on campuses). I think Georgia-Florida is an example of one that goes to a neutral site and it’s a long-standing tradition.
“You don’t want your conference games being played at neutral sites and I think Texas A&M is in agreement with that. I know (former A&M Athletic Director) Ross (Bjork) and I were, and (current A&M AD) Trev (Alberts) is as well.”
Some of the shine of the series has worn off for Razorback fans since Petrino’s teams swept three in a row from the Aggies, including a 42-38 win in 2011 in one of the biggest comebacks in school history. Tyler Wilson passed for a school-record 510 yards in that game and Jarius Wright had a school-record 281 receiving yards, a mark that lasted until Cobi Hamilton had a 303-yard game the following season.
Former Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long, who inherited a verbal agreement to play a series of games in the stadium from long-time Athletic Director Frank Broyles, completed the negotiations with the Joneses and then-Texas A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne.
“As I recall, when I came in there was a verbal agreement and it was left to me to negotiate, and I use that term loosely because the Joneses were so fabulous in the deal that they provided us and Texas A&M was the opponent and they were very eager to do it,” Long said. “One of the first calls I got was from Bill Byrne and he was eager to do it.
“We thought it made a lot of sense for us. One, to play in really and truly the world’s most fabulous stadium as Jerry was building it. And it was truly fabulous even before it was done. You could tell it was going to be something very special.”
When A&M joined the league in 2012, the teams had played an uneven number of games in Arlington and the Aggies were keen to get home games that season, so all the parties agreed to play the next two seasons at on-campus stadiums, and they agreed to renew the Southwest Classic for 11 more years.
The SEC-mandated move of the game to College Station, Texas, in 2020 due to covid-19 restrictions pushed the end date from 2023 to 2024 with the Aggies as hosts today.
The Aggies began sending out signals several years ago they were ready to permanently take the series to the respective campuses, a movement that crystallized with the $485 million renovation that took Kyle Field to a seating capacity of 102,733 for the start of the 2015 season.
“I think it became less desirable for A&M once they came into the league,” Long said. “Now it remained desirable to the University and Arkansas athletics because it got us into the state for recruiting football athletes and really all students because all of our programs benefited from being back in Texas.
“One thing I think is overlooked is, at the same time at the university level we had declining state support and I learned quickly the only way for universities really to increase revenues to be able to do the things they want to do on the education front is through tuition. So the university went on a campaign to attract more students and grow and Texas was a key to that and playing the game in Texas provided not only athletic exposure but really, truly university exposure. And the university used that entire week leading up to the game as student recruitment in the Dallas Metroplex and really beyond Dallas.”
Pittman has recognized the recruiting value of playing in Texas but understands the dynamics behind the neutral-site series coming to a close.
More importantly, winning the finale would be a huge boost for the Razorbacks, who have a daunting schedule ahead.
Pittman has been an assistant coach and head coach on Arkansas teams that have suffered agonizing losses to the Aggies.
“Potentially, we could’ve won at least two of those games,” Pittman said of the series during his head coaching tenure. “We’ve got to find a way to finish the game. I don’t think it’s a mystique about A&M or playing in Dallas or anything like that, I just think we’ve got to figure out how to finish and hold onto the ball. Just basic things you do in every game.
“But I do love the atmosphere going into that stadium with half the people from Arkansas and half the people from Texas A&M. It’s really, really cool and it’s a great environment to be in and it’s really fun. Funner whenever you win. But you know we’ll try to do that this week.”