Post Indicates Aggies May Get Revenge on Texas Longhorns While Keeping Arkansas in Arlington

Wikipedia suggests Razorbacks, Longhorns to meet up home of Dallas Cowboys in 2024, possibly ending Texas-OU Red River Rivalry at the old Cotton Bowl

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
May 8, 2023 7:37 AM EDT

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – While the SEC still has a few days before its spring meetings down in Florida to make things official, one source is indicating the Razorbacks will find themselves on the Texas Longhorns' schedule, which isn't all that surprising. However, there's a twist.

According to Wikipedia, the next game in the Arkansas-Texas series will take place in September, 2024 in Arlington. Now, as every English teacher in America will tell you, take what you see on Wikipedia with a grain of salt. But, more often than not, it turns out to be correct.

A screenshot of the Wikipedia page on the history between Arkansas and Texas football shows a game in Arlington in September, 2024. — Wikipedia.org

It makes sense in a lot of ways. Texas A&M has made no secret that it really wants out of playing the Razorbacks in AT&T Stadium at the behest of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. It's also no secret that the Aggies were incensed at the announcement of the Longhorns getting an invite into the SEC despite a supposed gentleman's agreement that no team would be allowed into conference if an SEC team from that state opposed it. One of the ways to get Texas A&M to not be so mad about the Longhorns getting into the conference so SEC teams could get richer is to let them out of the Arlington deal early and force Texas to slide into that spot while they don't have a vote to say anything about it.

If that were the case, the question would then become how long this would be the case. The agreement between Texas A&M and Arkansas to play in Arlington ends in 2024. However, what is also an option to end is Texas and Oklahoma playing in Dallas. If there were ever a desire on Oklahoma's part to get out of that game so the Sooners could get a lost recruiting opportunity back on campus, this would be the chance to make it happen. With Bedlam presumably gone, the Sooners need a premiere rivalry game in Norman. Coincidentally, the contract with the Cotton Bowl to host the Red River Rivalry goes through 2025 and could probably be amended under the circumstances if the Sooners wanted it bad enough.

This creates the opportunity for Jerry Jones, a prolific booster of the Arkansas Razorbacks, to continue to make additional money hosting a popular college series with large fan bases in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth area while also giving Texas fans the chance to continue to have an annual game in DFW. Sure, Longhorns fans wouldn't have all the craziness that comes with having your game shoved into the middle of a state fair, but they can still drive over to South Dallas and overpay for cheap thrills and heart attack inducing food to their heart's delight either before or after if they really want. There's also the option to hop on the Judge Roy Scream across the street from the Death Star at Six Flags if they need that feeling of a rickety, unsafe thrill ride for their burnt orange hearts to feel fulfilled.

Playing in Arlington not only helps Arkansas maintain a presence in a fertile North Texas recruiting ground while appeasing the large contingent of Razorback fans who call the area home, it gives Texas a chance to avoid an atmosphere in Fayetteville that left its players overwhelmed the last time the Longhorns showed up in Northwest Arkansas. Things were so crazy that Texas struggled to communicate and the Razorbacks fed off the energy so much that the Longhorns' backsides were up around their shoulders from pretty much the opening whistle.

Getting the Razorbacks to come south not only neutralizes that environment, it keeps prominent recruits Texas might be fighting Arkansas to sign from witnessing what happened at Razorback Stadium last time on official visits and swaying those recruits. There's not a lot of reason for Texas to not want this to happen when their athletic officials sit down and think about it, especially if Oklahoma were to back out of cramming into the old Cotton Bowl Stadium for an SEC game.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Sure, it could just be someone who didn't know the difference between the Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies when updating the page, but if it isn't, the end of May and early June that usually kicks off talking season is going to have a line of fiery discussion that might rival the spat between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher from last year.

Fans have a shade over three weeks to get their popcorn ready. This could be a fun one.