ESPN to televise Arkansas-Texas football game

An ESPN camera operator shoots a game between Arkansas and Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, in Fayetteville.
An ESPN camera operator shoots a game between Arkansas and Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ first on-campus football game against Texas in 17 years will be televised by ESPN in primetime later this year.

The Razorbacks’ Sept. 11 game against the Longhorns will kick off at 6 p.m., the network announced Tuesday. It is the second known game time for Arkansas in the upcoming season, along with a 2:30 p.m. game against Missouri on Nov. 26 in Fayetteville.

The Arkansas-Texas game was one of 11 matchups designated as “select marquee” games by ESPN in 2021. Most of the games are nonconference matchups between Power 5 teams, including games between Alabama and Miami, Georgia and Clemson, and Auburn and Penn State.

Washington’s game at Michigan on Sept. 11 will air on ABC at the same time as the game between the Razorbacks and Longhorns.

Texas last played at Arkansas on Sept. 11, 2004, and held on for a 22-20 victory when the Razorbacks committed a turnover inside the Longhorns’ 10-yard line with 2:42 remaining.

Prior to the 2004 game, Texas had not played in Fayetteville since 1989, when both teams were members of the Southwest Conference. The teams played their final SWC game against each other in 1991 in Little Rock.

This year’s Arkansas-Texas game is the long awaited return in a two-game series that began with a 2008 game in Austin. The Longhorns were scheduled to play at Arkansas in 2009, but the game was postponed when the Razorbacks began an annual series with Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas, that year.

Arkansas has won three of five games against Texas since the teams left the SWC, most recently in 2014 when the Razorbacks defeated the Longhorns 31-7 in the Texas Bowl in Houston.

Texas is entering its first season under head coach Steve Sarkisian, the 2020 Broyles Award winner while the offensive coordinator at Alabama.

The Longhorns are scheduled to open the season with a Sept. 4 home game against Louisiana-Lafayette. The Razorbacks are scheduled to open with a home game against Rice on the same day.

Arkansas expects to allow full capacity for its football games this year, athletics director Hunter Yurachek said last week.

ESPN Select Marquee Games for 2021

Sept. 4 — Alabama vs. Miami (in Atlanta), 2:30 p.m., ABC

Sept. 4 — Georgia vs. Clemson (in Charlotte, N.C.), 6:30 p.m., ABC

Sept. 5 — Notre Dame at Florida State, 6:30 p.m., ABC

Sept. 6 — Louisville vs. Ole Miss (in Atlanta), 7 p.m., ESPN

Sept. 11 — Texas at Arkansas, 6 p.m., ESPN

Sept. 11 — Washington at Michigan, 6:30 p.m., ABC

Sept. 18 — Auburn at Penn State, 6:30 p.m., ABC

Oct. 9 — Texas vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas), TBD

Oct. 9 — Notre Dame at Virginia Tech, TBD

Oct. 30 — Florida State at Clemson, TBD

Nov. 27 — Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, TBD

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