FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Now that we’re back to football for the rest of the month without interruption, the game Arkansas fans have been craving for a while is right around the corner. Many fans are already hoping to keep it close in the second half.

Since the Razorbacks left the old Southwest Conference in 1991, the Longhorns haven’t exactly watched the game with as much interest as most of the time before. The Hogs were never considered a rival by Texas for most of the year, no matter how much they hurt Arkansas’ feelings.

They downright hate Oklahoma and look down on their cousins ​​at Texas A&M. Longhorns deal with pigs when they sing. If it’s not important, they don’t care.

If you doubt that, just look at the Texas Bowl in 2014. The fans and the media made a big deal out of what used to be big games in the 1960s and 70s. Even Texas fans weren’t interested of a 6-6 Longhorns team to play the 6-6 Razorbacks. It’s two mediocre teams playing a bowl game before the New Year.

Things will be different on Saturday. The Longhorns have an experienced quarterback, a lot more talent and a defense that pressures the quarterback. They stumbled against Georgia, but every team in the SEC has stumbled at least once this year. All this is a problem for pigs.

Texas positions itself for the College Football Playoff. Barring some kind of monumental collapse in the final three weeks of the regular season, their season-ending game against the Aggies could be for a playoff spot and the SEC Championship Game.

The Longhorns will be ready for it. It won’t be like 2021 when Steve Sarkisian was still trying to implement his program, the quarterback situation wasn’t resolved and he still had players who weren’t buying what he was selling.

They are being bought now and will be coming to Fayetteville, ranked somewhere in the Top 5 in the country. That’s bad news for Arkansas. Unless you want to go back to the mid-60s, the only time the Razorbacks beat a Longhorns team ranked that high was in 1981, when No. 1 Texas was pummeled at Razorback Stadium, 42-11.

More importantly, they have a senior quarterback in Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning is his backup. Maybe the last thing the Razorbacks want to see is him in the game.

You can bet Sarkisian remembers that 2021 game, too, when the Hogs won 40-21, stormed the court and everyone who wore red had a good time. It was the best group of players Sam Pittman has had since taking over.

Despite what many people think, it almost always comes down to who has the best players. The best horse trainers in the country can’t get a mule to win the Kentucky Derby no matter what they try. That’s usually how it works in football too.

The Longhorns have several players who are better. Plus, Arkansas had its only upset of the year when they shocked Tennessee to start October. LSU and Ole Miss since stomping the Hogs mercilessly in Razorback Stadium.

Three shots on ranked teams in consecutive home games will be a bitter pill for everyone. That will start conversations that many people don’t want to have yet.

• Arkansas is still learning on the fly against Baylor

• Longhorns’ Talent Level in Win Over Florida Problem for Pigs

• The Razorbacks need speed against Baylor on Saturday night

• The angry No. 8 Bears await the No. 16 Razorbacks in Dallas

• Baylor presents first test for Calipari’s older roster of pigs