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Nothing makes college football feel more exciting than a rivalry game. The passion of the sport is at its highest when two teams with a longtime feud square off, and the Arkansas Razorbacks are no exception.
While the Hogs haven't fared particularly well in rivalry games since the turn of the 21st century (33-58 against rivals), they've still managed to produce some of the most exciting wins in program history against these teams.
For the sake of this list, we'll be including one signature Razorback win against each of their five rival schools: LSU, Missouri, Ole Miss, Texas, and Texas A&M.
2007: Arkansas 50, LSU 48
Of all the Arkansas Razorbacks' football rivalries, none has a richer history than their long-running feud with the LSU Tigers. The Golden Boot Trophy has spawned some of the most exciting games in the history of either program, including both the Miracle on Markham in 2002 and the Miracle on Markham II in 2008, both of which saw the Hogs emerge victorious. However, no win against the LSU Tigers was sweeter than Darren McFadden's legendary performance against the team in 2007.
The LSU Tigers came into their matchup with the Hogs ranked No. 1 in the country, and while the Les Miles-coached team would go on to win the National Championship later that season, they would end their regular season with an overtime loss to the Razorbacks courtesy of McFadden, Felix Jones, Peyton Hillis, and Houston Nutt. The triple-overtime win was spurred by the Razorbacks' 385 rushing yards, culminating in Matterral Richardson's interception of Matt Flynn's two-point conversion attempt at the end of the third overtime. It's hard for the stakes of an Arkansas-LSU game to be higher than this one, and considering the intensity of this specific rivalry, it's an easy pick as one of Arkansas' best rivalry wins of the century.
2021: Arkansas, 34, Missouri 17
As shocking as it may be to some fans, the Arkansas Razorbacks have only beaten Missouri three times since the dawn of the 2000s -- and only twice since the Battle Line Rivalry officially began in 2014. Since then, the Hogs are 2-10 against Missouri, making it easy to narrow down the choices for the Hogs' biggest win against their neighbors in Columbia.
Arkansas' 28-3 win against Missouri in 2015 was a bigger blowout than the Razorbacks' 2021 victory against the Tigers, but it wasn't as significant a win in the grand scheme of the Arkansas football program. 2021 was Sam Pittman's crowning season, and in addition to going 9-4 on the year, the Hogs would go 4-1 in their rivalry games, including a pivotal win against Missouri that gave Arkansas its best regular-season record since 2011. Thanks to a standout performance by eventual first-round pick Treylon Burks (7 catches, 129 yards, 1 TD), the Hogs handled business in Fayetteville as the No. 25-ranked team in the country.
2015: Arkansas 53, Ole Miss 52
In the history of Arkansas football, few wins have been more improbable than the Hogs' upset of the No. 18-ranked Ole Miss Rebels in 2015. The game went to overtime after a high-scoring regulation period, and just when things looked to be lost for the Hogs, Hunter Henry would do the impossible by lateraling the ball to Alex Collins on 4th-and-25 to keep the Razorbacks' hopes alive. Shortly thereafter, Brandon Allen threw his sixth and final TD pass of the night to Drew Morgan before converting a two-point conversion with his legs to clinch the win against the Rebels.
Ole Miss was still in contention for the SEC West title before its loss to Arkansas, making this one even sweeter for Razorback fans. Although the Hogs' 7-overtime win against Eli Manning deserves a shoutout for its historical significance (the first college game to hit 7 OT periods), the sheer absurdity of Arkansas' 4th-and-25 conversion and Ole Miss' SEC title hopes make 2015 the biggest win for the Hogs in this rivalry.
2021: Arkansas 40, Texas 21
For many years, the Arkansas-Texas rivalry -- once a major part of the Southwest Conference's history -- lay (mostly) dormant, kept apart by Arkansas' move to the SEC and Texas' move to the Big 12. However, this rivalry reignited in earnest in the 2020s, starting with Arkansas' commanding 40-21 win against the Longhorns in the team's long-awaited return to Fayetteville, Arkansas.
While Arkansas' win against the No. 15-ranked Texas squad in 2021 wasn't as significant for college football as some of their games from the previous century, it was an iconic moment for Razorback fans. The sight of the fans storming the field against Texas remains the defining visual of Sam Pittman's best season with the Hogs, as 74,531 fans packed into Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium to see the Razorbacks romp for 333 yards on the ground.
2021: Arkansas 20, Texas A&M 10
Arkansas' rivalry with Texas A&M has not been a kind one for the Razorbacks football team since the two teams reunited their old Southwest Conference feud in 2009. Entering 2021, the Hogs were on a nine-game losing streak to the Aggies, which is why the Hogs' win against the No. 7-ranked Texas A&M squad was such a major victory for the program.
Sam Pittman's 2021 Arkansas football team only lost one rivalry game -- Ole Miss -- and none of their victories came against a higher-ranked team than Texas A&M. The game came down to the wire, but after a diving Montaric Brown interception in the fourth quarter, Cam Little extended the Razorbacks' lead to 20-10, where it would remain until the final buzzer.
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This article was originally published on razorbackers.com as Arkansas Football's biggest rivalry wins of the 21st century.
