<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3XiEBZ_0wFD1yvh00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3XiEBZ_0wFD1yvh00" width="1016" height="628" ><figcaption>Credit: Craven Whitlow</figcaption></figure><p>Twenty-one years ago, I saw up close and personal just how many dreams a 6’6” quarterback donning Razorback red can ruin.</p><p>As an Arkansas native living in Austin, I’ve seen the hopes of Texas football fans get trampled on over and over again despite the numerous advantages their program has. </p><p>One especially vivid memory arrived in 2003, when an unranked Arkansas team arrived to at Darrell K. Royal Stadium to take on a No. 5 Texas squad with national title hopes. Walking out of a bar on Sixth Street the night before the game, a friend assured me Texas would win by at least 3 touchdowns.</p><p>Try losing by 10 points instead. Led by the 6’6” yet nimble Matt Jones, Arkansas ran roughshod over the Longhorns that day, racking up 265 rushing yards to Texas’ 62. Jones rumbled for 102 yards by himself while tacking on another 139 yards and a touchdown by pass on the way to the 38-28 win. His stomping all over Texas that day was glorious. Simply glorious. There are few things better than sitting in a group of people and watching your unranked team crush their hopes and dreams of returning to the promised land. </p><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3g6SsA_0wFD1yvh00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3g6SsA_0wFD1yvh00" width="480" height="360" ><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0D8AKlS81xo?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div><p>This past Saturday, the hope among Arkansas football fans was that another dual-threat 6’6” dynamo under center for the Hogs would help wreck another national title contender’s dreams. But Taylen Green wasn’t able to lead the Hogs to an upset over No. 8 LSU, as Arkansas was dispatched by 24 points in a game they did just about everything to lose.</p><p>That kind of let-down, unfortunately, is old hat for Arkansas football. Huge ups followed by huge downs have become part of the DNA of the program in the SEC era. As soon as things look like they are trending the right direction for the team, an anvil drops out of nowhere.</p><p>In 2003, that Texas win helped Arkansas crack the Top 10 a couple weeks later. But just as it seemed like Arkansas was going to make some noise, they had to go and do this once October rolled around:</p><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=20VbOc_0wFD1yvh00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=20VbOc_0wFD1yvh00" width="1530" height="532" ></figure><p>This kind of track record makes losing to No. 8 LSU in the next game after beating No. 4 Tennessee seem almost predictable. </p><p>Plenty of fans may still be stewing over the way referees totally screwed Tyrone Broden with an uncalled targeting call, and how consistently Arkansas shot itself in the foot with turnovers. I want to give such sufferers the gift of taking joy in yet another instance of Texas screwing the pooch, something its fans tolerate way less than Razorback fans.</p><h2>Texas Football Fans Losing It </h2><p>Here are but a few text messages that my Texas football fans sent me as they watched the extended car wreck that was No. 1 Texas vs No. 5 Georgia get it to a 23-0 lead for the Bulldogs:</p><p><i>“The main problem is that Georgia has much better players than we do tbh”</i></p><p><i>“Quinn Ewers did that to himself. They’ll say he was hurt.”</i> (This was a response to “Sark just strangled Ewers’ draft stock.)</p><p><i>“Cam Williams = not a first rounder”</i></p><p><i>“They are dominating both lines of scrimmage. We haven’t been close to a sack”</i></p><p>Breathe that in, Arkansas. Let it take some of the pain away from that LSU loss. Revel in supporters of your chief rival realizing they no longer get to own the top of the mountain in their first season as part of the SEC. You would think they would have already known this, although I suppose last year’s win over Alabama allowed them to get an even bigger head than many thought possible.</p><h2>Texas Football Much Better at Winning Than Show about “The Simpsons”</h2><p>No more. The nation’s No. 1 team has been cut down to size, 30-15, by No. 5 Georgia. The win, which featured the Bulldogs getting seven sacks and racking up 10 tackles for loss on the night, had so many Texas football fans practically scrambling for the “exit” door at Darrell K. Royal Stadium.</p><p>One of my Texas football fan friends said on Sunday he had to go to a local MLS match in order to see more offense in a “football” game.</p><p>Here are some other messages from various Longhorn supporters as they tried to process the truck that just hit them at 80 mph:</p><ul><li><i>“Crowd was fun. QB is r-slurred”</i></li><li><i>“They’re just a better team”</i></li><li><i>“Ewers is not a dude who’s going to win us games. Nor is he the kind of QB who can improvise and move sticks when s*** breaks down”</i> (Let’s not forget Ewers was potential top QB in draft a month ago)</li></ul><p>I know that some may accuse an Arkansas fan going after Texas folks in this way is like the pot calling the kettle black. But that’s not why I’m sharing these tasty little schadenfreudic morsels. I’m sharing them because, having lived in Austin for decades, I know this isn’t a small sample size of how many Texas fans think.</p><p>They talk about not turning their backs on your team, but during the first real struggle of the season so many chose to abandon the faith instead.</p><p>Like rats jumping from a sinking ship.</p><p>***</p><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1kxbf0_0wFD1yvh00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1kxbf0_0wFD1yvh00" width="480" height="360" ><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cJJTsb8KCwM?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2c3RvWQhpQo?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3QsTlw_0wFD1yvh00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3QsTlw_0wFD1yvh00" width="480" height="360" ><div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tnij4nbt3zs?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div></div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Texas Side’s Panicky Text Messages Enough to Take Edge off LSU Loss

Twenty-one years ago, I saw up close and personal just how many dreams a 6’6” quarterback donning Razorback red can ruin. As an Arkansas native living in Austin, I’ve seen the hopes of Texas football fans get trampled on over and over again despite the numerous advantages their program has.