By DON KAUSLER JR.

One step forward. One step back. That's the story so far of the 2024 Arkansas football season.

Two steps forward (victories over UAB and Auburn). One step back (a loss to then-No. 24 Texas A&M).

One huge step forward (a victory at home over then-No. Tennessee). One step back (a 24-point home loss to then-No. 8 LSU.

One step forward (a 23-point victory at Mississippi State). A BIG step back (a 32-point loss to then-No. 19 Ole Miss).

The tally: 2 SEC road victories and 1 giant home win over Tennessee, which is No. 7 in the current College Football Rankings. The SEC losses came to teams now rated No. 11, No. 15 and No. 22 in the CFP rankings. No losses to any teams that weren’t ranked on the day of the game. Arkansas has followed every loss with a victory.

How do the Razorbacks (5-4, 3-3 in the SEC) make their fans forgive and forget the latest game, a brutal 63-31 loss at home to Ole Miss?

Easy. With a victory over No. 3 Texas (8-1, 4-1) at 11 a.m. CDT Saturday at home. The hated Longhorns are favored by 13½ points in a game that will be televised by ABC.

A victory would make Arkansas eligible for a bowl with 2 regular-season games remaining: at home against Louisiana Tech (3-6) and at No. 23 Missouri (7-2). It's a Missouri team that thinks it is still contending for the spot in the 12-team playoffs.

Texas has defeated 3 teams that were ranked at the time of the game, but Michigan (5-5), Oklahoma (5-5) and Vanderbilt (6-4) no longer are ranked. The Longhorns’ loss was 30-15 to then-No. 5 Georgia. The Bulldogs now are 7-2 and are rated No. 12 in the CFP rankings.

The combined record of the 8 teams Texas has defeated is 36-40. Only 2 of those teams are above .500 (Colorado State is 6-3; Louisiana Monroe is 5-4).

The combined record of the 5 teams Arkansas has defeated is 18-29. The combined record of the 4 teams the Razorbacks have lost to is 24-14.

If the Razorbacks could defeat Tennessee, a 13-point favorite, why can’t they defeat Texas?

Of course, if Ole Miss could crush Arkansas in Fayetteville, why can’t the Longhorns?

FIRST DOWN

It came to pass: We might as well say the final score 2 weeks ago was Jordan Watkins 35, Arkansas 31. Watkins set school records with 5 touchdown catches and 254 yards receiving, and he isn’t even the Rebels’ top receiver. Tre Harris ranks No. 4 in the nation with 987 yards receiving in 7 games. He was injured and did not play against Arkansas.

Jaxson Dart set Ole Miss records for yards passing (515) and TD passes in a single game (6).

“I think we’re a little fragile there,” Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said of his secondary after the game.

A little?

Arkansas is ranked No. 124 nationally in pass defense (266.2 yards per game). Ole Miss gained 694 total yards. Texas ranks No. 9 in total offense (465.2 yards per game) and No. 10 in passing offense (301.1). 

Backup defensive backs have been challenging starters this week in Arkansas practices.

"Yeah, we certainly have made it very competitive back there," Pittman said. "If you ask me who’s going to start at safety, I would say, ‘Let’s wait a couple more days.’ We’ve made it that much of a battle. Same thing at the corner spot. I think you have to do that. You’ll lose your room if you don’t.

"If you don’t challenge with guys that are 2's, they’re going to be going, ‘Well, I just watched the tape, and maybe I should have an opportunity.’ So we certainly are doing that. Not just with, ‘Well, we may get you in the game,’ (but) with going out there first, with starting. We’ve done that with at least 3 of the 5 positions, possibly 4."

Texas' junior starting quarterback Quinn Ewers has thrown for 1,722 yards and 19 touchdowns in 7 games this season.

"You look at (Texas), they’re scary," Pittman said. "They’re dangerous at wideout and running back out of the backfield and Ewers throwing the football. He has one of the fastest releases of guys I’ve seen. I mean, he can throw a bubble screen, it’s halfway there and you haven’t even seen him throw it. He’s really, really talented. Has an extremely strong arm. … So what are you going to do? You’re going to try and cover?

"You’re going to try to get to (Ewers). You’re going to try and move the point. They’re good enough offensive line-wise, you’re going to have to send some guys to get to him, because he has such a quick release. Therefore, when you do, you’re going to have to be in some type of zone 3 or man-to-man. So, we’ll have to pick and choose our times there, but we have to mix it up on him, and we have to disguise better than we have."

The Razorbacks’ best defense is the offense. They scored 31 points against Ole Miss, which had been ranked No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense (11 points per game). Arkansas compiled 492 yards (365 passing), but it allowed 8 sacks.

SECOND DOWN

Key matchup: Arkansas must pressure Ewers, as Pittman said, and that makes Landon Jackson vs. Kelvin Banks Jr. a key matchup.

Jackson is the Razorbacks’ senior edge rusher. Banks is the Longhorns’ junior left tackle. Both linemen are projected as high NFL draft picks.

Experts say Banks (6-foot-4, 320 pounds) has the field demeanor of a guard but the reach and mobility of a tackle. He is a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award, which goes to the nation’s best lineman.

Jackson (6-6, 270), a capable run-stopper, is known for his tenacity and work ethic. He leads the Razorbacks in sacks (4½), tackles for loss (7), quarterback pressures (32), batted passes (3) and fumble turnovers generated (2).

In Texas, Jackson is known best as the older brother of Lance Jackson, the elite 2025 edge/athlete who is committed to Texas.

THIRD DOWN

Injury report: A bye week gave Arkansas QB Taylen Green (6-6, 230) time to recover from a knee sprain that knocked him out of the second half of the loss to Ole Miss.

"Taylen practiced every day last week, and I believe he'll be fine," Pittman said Monday.

Green has thrown for 2,214 yards and 11 touchdowns and has run for 411 yards and 5 TDs this season.

"I love Taylen," Pittman said. "He obviously gives us a chance to win each and every game. He's a wonderful kid.”

Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian is impressed with Green.

"Obviously, he has the size, the arm strength, the ability to run the football on quarterback-driven runs, the ability to buy time, make all the throws down the field," Sarkisian said Wednesday. "He covers a lot of ground. A lot of times you watch the tape and you're like, 'How did he cover so much ground?' It doesn't look like he's moving that fast, but he is."

More good news for the Razorbacks: Senior running back Ja’Quinden Jackson (photo by Craven Whitlow) is back after missing 2 games and parts of 2 others with an ankle injury.

“He's healthy. He's ready to go,” Pittman said Wednesday during the SEC coaches’ teleconference. “He's looked really good in practice, and I expect him to go out there and play at full strength and full speed, and it's good to have him back."

Jackson is the SEC’s eighth-leading rusher with 592 yards and has scored 10 touchdowns.

But there’s bad news for Arkansas: Sophomore cornerback Braylon Braxton, perhaps the team’s best defensive back, is expected to miss another game. Braxton, who has been dealing with tendinitis and a bone bruise, hasn’t played since the second game of the season at Oklahoma State.

FOUTH DOWN

A heated rivalry renewed: These teams are rivals from way back. They were Southwest Conference rivals from 1915 to 1991 before Arkansas joined the SEC. This is the Longhorns’ first season in the SEC.

Texas leads the series 56-23, but since Arkansas left the Southwest Conference, its record against the Longhorns is 4-2. The Razorbacks won the latest two matchups (2014 and 2021).

Some of the games years ago were epic.

In 1964, No. 9 Arkansas defeated No. 1 Texas 14-13 at Austin, Texas. Arkansas scored with 6:43 left in the game to take a 14-7 lead, but Texas scored a touchdown with 1:27 left. The Razorbacks stopped a 2-point conversion attempt and went on to win their first and only national championship.

In 1969, No. 1 Texas defeated No. 2 Arkansas 15-14 in “The Game of the Century.” The Longhorns trailed 14-0 after 3 quarters but rallied and went on to win the national championship.

Most recently, in 2021, Arkansas upset No. 15 Texas 40-21, the Razorbacks’ first victory over the Longhorns in Fayetteville since 1981. Arkansas fans stormed the field and tore down the goalposts.

This summer at SEC Media Days, Sarkisian said Arkansas fans "hated Texas more than they liked themselves." Pittman responded, "He's probably right."

This week, Sarkisian had more to say.

“I don’t know what (former Texas Coach) Darrell Royal did to Arkansas back in the day, but they absolutely hate our guts,” said Sarkisian, whose second game as the Texas coach was the 2021 loss to the Razorbacks. “And I think we learned that the first time around when we went there.”