Legend of the Lost: Five Most Heartbreaking in Arkansas History

2024’s disappointing defeats don’t come close to making this list of horrible memories for Razorback fans

Arkansas Razorback quarterback #14 Clint Stoerner in action against the LSU Tigers. Arkansas defeated LSU 41-14. / RVR Photos-Imagn Images

To all the Razorback fans still lamenting Arkansas’ agonizing losses to Oklahoma State and Texas A&M, yes, the Hogs are so close — oh my gosh, so close — to being … well, all of this:

Undefeated.
Nationally ranked.
One of the best surprises in college football.

But they aren't. Arkansas is awfully good at times and the victim of their own bonehead plays at other times.

It has always been thus, friends. The toughest losses in the history of the Arkansas program are a combination of playing another great team and the Hogs being their own worst enemy.

It’s not unlike when they gift wrapped an early Christmas present for Okie-State and coughed up the football three times while resembling A&M’s scout team.

Those setbacks will be forgotten by most in a couple years. For some, it will be by the time the 2024 season is over.

By then everyone will know whether the Hogs rebounded — perhaps the flash point will be a major upset of No. 4 Tennessee Saturday at Razorback Stadium — and earned a bowl bid or if the tough schedule got the best of the boys.

Some games are never forgotten, though. They live forever in hearts and minds. The stories are passed down through generations.

They’re the legends of the lost, the memories of what might’ve been. Here are the five worst in Hogs history based on nothing more than one man’s opinion:

NO. 1: THE BIG SHOOTOUT

No game played between today and the end of time will knock the 1969 game with Texas out of the top slot. It likely cost the Hogs a national championship — but there’s absolutely no way they should’ve lost this one.

They gave it away and that's gotta be the biggest reason Arkansas’ legendary coach Frank Broyles famously never watched the film. It was the big one that got away, the Moby Dick on this list.

In a nutshell, No. 2 Arkansas hosted No. 1 Texas in a game moved to the end of the season by national TV. Yet-to-be disgraced President Richard Nixon flew in, as did future President George H.W. Bush.

Billy Graham gave the invocation to the 10 million Hog fans who swear they were at the game.

Now, the bad stuff. The Razorbacks led 14-8 in the fourth quarter, had the ball at the Texas 7, with All-American kicker Bill McClard waiting to clinch the win.

Instead, on third down, Bill Montgomery passed, was intercepted, and Texas broke every heart in Arkansas by scoring, making the two-pointer, and later magically converting 4th & 3 with — everyone shake your head in disgust now — a 43-yard pass to the tight end that led to the game-winning TD.

If anyone's mom, grandma or great grandma ever cussed, she did that day.

NO. 2: DYNASTY DENIED

The unbeaten Hogs won their version of the national championship in 1964. But Alabama was declared national champ in the AP poll, which awarded the title — amazingly, stupidly — before bowl games were played.

So, what happened? ’Bama lost its bowl game (21-17 to Texas in the Orange Bowl) and Arkansas didn’t (beating Nebraska 10-7 in the Cotton Bowl), making the Hogs the country’s lone unbeaten.

The Razorbacks were awarded the title by the Football Writers Association of America and the Helms Athletic Foundation.

So ’Bama and Arkansas both still lay claim to the title. What happened the next year in 1965?

Arkansas was undefeated again but the folks who control the polls came to their senses and said the poll following the bowls determined the national champ.

The Hogs lost their bowl game, 14-7 to LSU, and finished third in the poll (Alabama was first again). The Hogs had a chance at back-to-back national titles and lots of folks outside Arkansas don’t think the Hogs even won one.

NO. 3: HOOKED BY THE ’HORNS

Broyles retired as coach, concentrating on becoming a visionary athletics director and TV commentator alongside Keith Jackson.

His hand-picked successor got lots of laughs while sitting next to Johnny Carson on the old Tonight Show. And when the regular season ended in 1977, Arkansas coach Lou Holtz amused everyone after fans threw oranges onto the field, signifying the Hogs clinching a spot in the Orange Bowl.

“I’m just glad we aren’t going to the Gator Bowl,” quipped Holtz.

He suspended Arkansas' starting tailback, fullback and receiver following a dorm incident with a woman and All-American guard Leotis Harris also missed the Orange Bowl with an injury.

Unbeaten Oklahoma was favored by 18 but the Hogs dominated from the outset and routed Arkansas native Barry Switzer’s team, 31-6. It’s one of the greatest wins in Razorback football history.

After one great play by the Hogs, my dad, a professor at Arkansas, leaped over the ottoman in our living room and thrust a fist into the air while shouting his joy. Problem is, the Hogs — which were No. 3 in the final poll — had lost their mid-season home game to Texas, 13-9, Arkansas' only points coming on three field goals by Steve Little, including a 67-yarder.

The Razorbacks led late, but Texas scored the game's lone touchdown with only 4:31 remaining. Were it not for the hated ’Horns, Arkansas might’ve won the national championship in Holtz’s first year.

National champ Notre Dame, led by Joe Montana, routed No.1 Texas 38-10 in the Cotton Bowl to finish 11-1. The four teams behind the Irish in the final poll -- Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Penn State -- were also 11-1.

NO. 4: MIAMI HURRICANES ESCAPE

Ken Hatfield's Hogs were 10-0 when they took on Jimmy Johnson's unbeaten Miami team in 1988. The year before, the Hurricanes demolished the Hogs 51-10 in Little Rock, when the stadium was half empty by halftime.

That was Johnson's "revenge" against Hatfield, a former teammate who was hired by Broyles when Holtz was sent packing. Johnson wanted the Arkansas job and felt slighted.

All turned out well for him while winning the 1987 national title and two Super Bowls as coach of the Dallas Cowboys. The Hogs led Miami 10-3 and clung to a 16-15 lead in the fray.

The Hurricanes were threatening with under six minutes to play. That's when Hogs All-American and future Hall of Famer with the Denver Broncos Steve Ateater made a rare error.

Steve Walsh's pass seemed to be his to corral, but it bounced away, harmlessly incomplete. Miami kicked a field goal with 5:38 left to win.

To this day, Hog fans wonder about that missed opportunity in a huge game. Arkansas lost its next outing, too, to Troy Aikman -- the quarterback for Johnson in the 1992 and '93 Super Bowl wins -- as UCLA's defense dominated in a 17-3 win.

NO. 5: STOERNER STUMBLES

This one didn’t cost Arkansas a national championship but it helped Tennessee win one. Both teams were 8-0 with Tennessee ranked No. 1 and the Hogs 10th in Houston Nutt's first year as coach.

Arkansas silenced the huge crowd of 106,365 by taking a 21-10 halftime lead on three Clint Stoerner TD passes. The Hogs still led 24-22 with just 1:43 remaining.

That's when Stoerner, trying to run left, tripped over the foot of inspirational guard Brandon Burlsworth, a former walk-on who became an All-American. Stoerner put the ball on the ground to steady himself, lost it, and the Vols recovered.

A field goal could win it, but five straight runs by tailback Travis Henry -- he gained 197 on the ground that day -- got the winning TD with just 28 seconds left. The shell-shocked Hogs lost the next week at Mississippi State, 22-21, then routed LSU 41-14 before losing to Tom Brady's Michigan squad 45-31 in the New Year's Day Citrus Bowl.

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