GEORGIA ON OUR MINDS:
BIG GAME, VOLUME II
by Larry Carlson for Texas Legacy Support Network
Much has been made — ever since the schedule was released last year — about the potential peril Texas football would face in mid-October. Oklahoma and Georgia on the Longhorns’ agenda looked more daunting that any pair of hurdles in recent times.
But players and fans of the DKR, Fred Akers and even David McWilliams coaching eras can recall that “double trouble” was the norm for UT, back in the day.
Actually, dating back to 1937, OU and Arkansas were on the dance card in the same order on the Texas schedule, all but four years until the Razorbacks ditched the Southwest Conference for the greener fields of the SEC.
But it was in the ’60s that the challenge of facing two rivals in eight days became apparent. Arkansas, headed by Royal’s best pal and golfing buddy, Frank Broyles, was Texas’ most dangerous competition in the old Southwest. From 1959 through 1973, only two seasons saw another SWC team (SMU in ’66, A&M in ’67) earn a January ticket to the Cotton Bowl as the league’s champion. Texas hogged ten titles in the span, and Arkansas earned three.
So, long before Texas-Georgia — with a high octane assist from U.S. Grand Prix F1 racing — made Austin the epicenter of the sporting world for a delicious autumn weekend, Longhorn football teams were used to reloading after all the emotion of Texas-OU at the State Fair.
Charlie Talbert
“You had to just get ready for the challenge,” Corby Robertson told me this week.
Robertson starred for UT from 1966-68, earned All-America honors at linebacker and was a captain his senior year. The long-time Houston business magnate sounded matter-of-fact about the task his teams faced, and what the current Texas team is encountering Saturday, when Robertson plans to attend, along with other former Longhorns, Chris Gilbert, Charlie Talbert and Mike Perrin.
Robertson experienced the extreme demands of the formidable two-part test. Texas lost both games in his sophomore season which did brighten considerably when UT came on strong to finish with four straight wins. In each of his last two years, the Steers triumphed over both rivals. The latter twin-killing in ’68 ended with nine straight victories and a number three ranking. And it was the last of the seven times Royal guided his team through connected flaming hoops. In ’69 and ’70, of course, the Arkansas game was moved by TV gurus to December as the regular season finale. Texas won both battles and captured national titles each year. It should also be mentioned that Royal’s last squad, the ’76 edition, ended the season, and DKR’s coaching career, with a December “W” against the Razorbacks.
Perhaps the best-known, most storied combo of triumphs against OU and Arkansas came just one year later. In 1977, coached by Fred Akers and headed by Earl Campbell and former third-string QB Randy McEachern, Texas mustered only one touchdown in each heavyweight bout in the eight-day span. But it was one more than the Longhorn defense surrendered against both the second-ranked Sooners and the eighth-ranked Hogs.
Longhorn kicker Russell Erxleben was a pretty handy guy to have around back then. The All-American launched field goals that rocketed 64 and 58 yards to ruin OU (13-6) and roasted the Porkers (13-9) with shots of 58 and 52 yards. Yep, and Erx had a 67-yard record-setter against Rice in the warmup game before Texas-OU.
It has not been bettered.
Perhaps all the border battle history of Texas versus OU and Arkansas is “apples and burnt oranges” when it compares to Georgia’s Bulldogs arriving for the main event at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. This is a nouveau rivalry that won’t be on the calendar each year. Obviously, it’s the inaugural SEC matchup between UT and UGA.
But the stakes are Texas-sized. UT is number one and carved up the offensively toothless Sooners in the undercard last weekend. Georgia is genuinely college football’s latest titanic power. The Dawgs went 42-2 with repeat national championship teams (2021-2022) in the last three seasons. They’ll visit Austin as college ball’s number five team and the Horns’ roughest foe — canine or other —since last season’s playoff game with the Washington Huskies.
Getting past both Oklahoma and Arkansas in a tight, eight-day window never meant Texas teams had made it to easy street in any given season. But having embarrassed OU, if the current herd of Horns can drive over Georgia, it will certainly make the path to the SEC title game a lot simpler to navigate. And for Steve Sarkisian, that means time for another spin with “All gas, no brakes.”
Kinda like those F1 racers.
TLSN’s Larry Carlson is a member of the Football Writers Association of America. He teaches sports media at Texas State University and lives in the Alamo City.)
