HOUSTON -- Arkansas and Texas have a regular-season game scheduled for 2021 in Fayetteville to fulfill the second part of a two-game deal that started with the 2008 game in Austin, Texas.
To hear Bret Bielema and Charlie Strong talk, renewing the old Southwest Conference rivalry between their teams on a more regular basis would be fine with them.
"It would be fun," Bielema said Saturday during a news conference leading up to the teams' Texas Bowl matchup Monday night. "It would be an easy one to sell, but in today's world there are so many changes that are going to evolve.
"We're talking about games in 2021. I'm hoping to be alive and kicking then."
Strong also addressed the possibility.
"I think one of our players said it. At some point you'd love to see that matchup come back because it was such a big rivalry game," he said. "You love to see those old rivalries continue on, and at some point you'd like to see that happen."
Arkansas has scheduled marquee home-and-home series with TCU (2016-17) and Michigan (2018-19) in coming years.
Texas refs?
Texas won the Rodeo Bowl, a series of cowboy-themed events Friday night at the George Ranch Historical Park, but the Longhorns' victory came after the two-time restart of a hay bale throwing event -- after the Longhorns dropped their bale twice -- and other questionable calls.
"I'm just saying I hope we've got a different refereeing crew coming into the game," Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said at the team luncheon Saturday.
"We felt like the referees didn't give us the right call like we wanted them to," Arkansas linebacker Martrell Spaight said.
"What I understood was they lost a competition, didn't understand the rules, so OK, redo it for whatever," Arkansas lineman Brey Cook said. "The second time we did it, they lost again.
"I don't know what the excuse was, but we had to come back and do it a third time, which we lost, and there's no redos, I guess, when we lose."
Shipley in
Texas receiver Jaxon Shipley, who missed the Longhorns' 48-10 loss to TCU on Thanksgiving Day, is expected to be ready to face the Razorbacks. Shipley had a hamstring injury in November.
Coin toss
The moderator at Saturday's coaches news conference said Arkansas' Bret Bielema had "won the coin toss," although he didn't know it, and got to give his opening remarks first.
Bielema's response: "I can't defer?"
Wise move
The first question asked Saturday to Arkansas' Brandon Allen, Jonathan Williams and Trey Flowers was which of the three was the best dancer.
Allen said it was Flowers, but when the moderator asked Flowers to show a dance move Flowers would not get off his stool. Williams then said that Allen was the best dancer and challenged the quarterback to show a move.
Allen first gave a shout-out to defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr., for coming up with the move, then re-enacted it.
The Texas players chosen for the discussion -- linebacker Jordan Hicks, cornerback Quandre Diggs and receiver John Harris -- did not show any dance moves.
Speaking Russian
Texas linebacker Jordan Hicks, asked to speak about Coach Charlie Strong, repeated a frequently used line by Strong a couple of times.
"He sounds Russian when he's talking," Hicks said. "Drive and go. Drive and go."
'Special' hair
Many of Arkansas' special teams players have grown a variety of facial hair constructions, like mustaches, goatees, soul patches and mustache-beard combos.
"I remember them doing those in the Cotton Bowl year and it looked just as bad," offensive tackle Brey Cook said. "I don't know why they brought them back, but they did."
Staff hold
Bret Bielema said he "absolutely" hoped to retain his entire coaching staff for 2015.
"I think we survived the first wave [of coaching staff transition] and then we'll see what happens," Bielema said.
Orange burn
Little Rock native Keith Jackson, the color analyst for the Razorback Sports Network and an All-American at Oklahoma (1986-87), knows all about the Texas Longhorns.
"It's a common enemy between the two places where I spent the most time," Jackson said Saturday. "It was our arch-nemesis growing up, watching Arkansas-Texas games and then playing them when I was at Oklahoma."
Mallett in town
Houston Texans quarterback Ryan Mallett, the former Razorback who is rehabbing from pectoral muscle surgery, returned to Houston on Friday after getting a couple of days to spend with family around Christmas.
Mallett, who was wearing a right shoulder sling to protect the injury, said his rehabilitation is going well.
The quarterback from Texarkana, Texas, said he was hoping to swing by Arkansas' practices at some point during the weekend to visit with the Razorbacks.
Sports on 12/28/2014