For the third straight Saturday, Arkansas will play a team from Texas with two of those games played in the Lone Star state.
This one is perhaps the most important of those as the No. 17 Razorbacks (3-0) open up SEC play by battling No. 10 Texas A&M (3-0, 1-0) in an ESPN nationally televised game from AT&T Stadium at 8 p.m.
A win for Arkansas in the stadium built by former Razorback and current Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would not only help the Razorbacks continue their ascension in the polls and open SEC play 1-0, but also make a statement to the multitude of prep football prospects in Texas.
Arkansas won the first three games of the neutral site series with A&M, but has lost four in a row with a pair of home games thrown in there.
"Well obviously when you're not from there, it's a big deal to get in there," Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said of recruiting in Texas on Wednesday's SEC Teleconference. "When you live there it's not such a big thing.
"But obviously the Jones family and their history with Arkansas is pretty cool to be in there and be part of that crowd. We'd like to be able to let them celebrate, though.
"I think the biggest thing is for us, we have two of our best tailbacks (Rawleigh Williams and Devwah Whaley) are from Texas. One from Dallas and one from Beaumont. Two of our three best defensive linemen (Deatrich Wise and Taiwan Johnson) are from Texas.
"Have several players, but the other thing we do is we recruit Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, the areas around here that not only in the state does it have dividends, but I think the surrounding areas as well.
Bielema was asked why Texas is that important.
"Well, two-fold," Bielema said. "First just proximity. I'm not the overly smartest guy in the bunch, but I figure Dallas isn't that far away and several things in East Texas.
"I tell ya, when I started going there and recruiting, I'd recruited before my previous job at Wisconsin was just a chore to get them on the plane and get them up there. But now it's just a half-a-day car ride. Sometimes even shorter than that, and a lot of times you'll be in a home, and it'll be like, 'Oh, my aunt lives in Arkansas' or 'My uncle's from Arkansas' or 'Dad's from Arkansas.'
"There's so many close ties, that's the part that probably pays bigger dividends than just one game in Dallas, but they're all kind of a cumulative effect that takes a big effect and hopefully pays dividends for us in the future."
Sports on 09/22/2016