What Texas learned from the beating it took from the Razorbacks in 2021

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Arkansas and Texas last played in 2021, and it wasn't pretty for the Longhorns. The No. 15 Longhorns trailed 16-0 at halftime and lost 40-21 in Steve Sarkisian's first true road game as the head coach.

It was the first loss in a 5-7 season that most of the remaining players and coaches won't let themselves forget about because they use it as motivation.

It was eye-opening for the program which had just started conversations that year about potentially joining the Southeastern Conference. At the time, Arkansas was a middle-of-the-road team in the conference, and they laid a Texas-sized whooping on the Longhorns. Sarkisian knew what he needed to do to get the program headed in the right direction after that.

"It was good, not only for myself but for the rest of the coaches and players to see that's an SEC team," Sarkisian said Monday about the 2021 game. "We know what's needed from an emotional and mental standpoint, as well as a physical standpoint."

Sarkisian said there are 11 players on the team now that dressed for the 2021 game, and nine are now starters. He said those players are letting the younger players know how tough of an environment Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium is and how much the fans hate Texas.

"We may have some younger players looking at it like it's just another game, but I know those older guys are talking about that game and the environment, owning it, and why it's important to own it to have the right poise and composure," Sarkisian said. "Those 11 guys probably have a pretty bad taste in their mouth and a chip on their shoulder from the last time we were there."

He's right. Fifth-year senior defensive lineman Alfred Collins was a sophomore that season, and he wasn't even sure why Arkansas fans hated Texas so much in the first place. The teams hadn't played regularly since 1991 and only a handful of times after that, but there were generations of bad blood and Collins felt it immediately.

"That was my first really big game, and they came with it," Collins said. When asked if he could feel the hate from the Arkansas fans, he said, "most definitely."

"It was like, we didn't do nothing to y'all, but it is what it is," he said. "It comes with being a Longhorn. I don't have very good memories of that place."

Since then, it's clear how much the program's culture has evolved. Texas is 9-2 in true road games since the 2022 season, and Sarkisian said a big part of that is how in sync the players are and how they can trust each other. And that's taken years to develop.

"You can't just turn that on the week of the game," he said. "It speaks volumes to the connectivity that the guys have in the locker room, and that's something we can lean into on the road. They hold each other accountable on what's acceptable and what isn't, and how we're going to perform and the mindset we need."