Texas Football: 3 reasons the Longhorns can dominate Arkansas

A highly-awaited matchup awaits No. 15 ranked Texas football and new head coach Steve Sarkisian this weekend on the road against the upstart Arkansas Razorbacks and head coach Sam Pittman. Arkansas looks to be a rising team in the SEC West in the second year under Pittman’s direction, with a rejuvenated coaching staff as a whole.

This is also a pretty experienced team that the Razorbacks return this season. Arkansas doesn’t bring back as much returning production as head coach Billy Napier and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns did this year. But Arkansas does have more physically gifted and overall talented athletes on both sides of the ball compared to Louisiana.

Hudson Card and No. 15 Texas football ready for a tough battle on the road vs. Arkansas

This matchup for Sark and the Longhorns is one of two difficult opponents on the schedule for the non-conference portion of the regular season slate. If Texas can top both Arkansas and Louisiana, it will go a long way to prove the progress made for the program thus far under Sark’s coaching staff.

As of the early afternoon of Sep. 10, Texas is still a seven-point favorite in the spread over Arkansas. And the ESPN matchup predictor (based on the Football Power Index) gives Texas a 67 percent chance to beat Arkansas this weekend.

Both Texas and Arkansas carry a record of 1-0 into this game, following home wins for each squad last weekend. Texas downed Louisiana by a score of 38-18, and Arkansas took down the Rice Owls by the final score of 38-17.

Texas did have the more impressive win of the two last weekend, compared with Arkansas’ win over Rice. Theoretically Texas should have a lot of confidence and momentum built up from the 20-point win over the Cajuns on Sep. 4.

With that in mind, here’s a look into three reasons why the Longhorns could dominate the Razorbacks in the first road game of the season for Texas on Sep. 11.