FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — History suggests Texas has been the recipient of brand bias over the years no matter its conference affiliation.

The Longhorns previously had their own television network and are consistently talked about on major sports networks whether good or bad. Texas’ brand brings views and there’s no denying that.

Now in the SEC, the newcomers were given a forgiving schedule for the Longhorns’ inaugural season. With the entrance of Texas and Oklahoma, the league mixed up its philosophy on building schedules based off member performances over the past decade.

Of course, Oklahoma had been dominant in the Big 12 with seven 10+ win seasons and four playoff appearances. The Sooners’ success from 2015-21 was gifted five ranked opponents including road games against Ole Miss, Auburn, Missouri and LSU while also playing Tennessee and Alabama.

Despite a singular playoff appearance last season and four losing seasons, the Longhorns benefitted from their struggles and in return received a much easier path to another deep postseason run. Texas has played five ranked opponents, but road games were rather winnable at Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.

According to Arkansas coach Sam Pittman, that fact still shouldn’t diminish a successful run despite the slate of games assigned. The Longhorns are a good team with a great coach whose roster is littered with potential NFL prospects who are in line to help Texas compete for its first national championship since the 2006 season.

“Oh, a lot of times critics don’t know what they’re talking about and I don’t think they know much what they’re talking about on this one either,” Pittman said. “This is a fine Texas team. I mean, you don’t go beat Oklahoma by 31, and beat Mississippi State by 22, and beat Michigan by 19, beat Colorado State 52-0 and have a sorry football team.

“These guys are ranked No. 3 in the country because they deserve it and they’re a really well-coached football team. Coach Sarkisian is one of the best in the business, there’s no question about it, and they’ve got talent. It’s not their fault that they haven’t played, let’s say, a schedule like ours. We played LSU and Ole Miss and A&M and Tennessee. The schedule is the schedule, and what they’ve done is done a fine job with their schedule and they’ve got a good football team.”

Style points still matter in college football when it comes to playoff access. The Longhorns have been dominant defensively this fall beating opponents by an average of 26 points while ranking near the top of every statistical category.

It’s no fault of Texas that when schedule were announced two years ago, most of its current opponents fielded programs with a pulse. Arkansas, Mississippi State, Florida and Kentucky were competing at a higher level, but that’s not the case now with the rapid development of NIL, transfer portal and college football landscape.

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