FILE Northwest Arkansas Times Arkansas fans react to members of the Texas coaching staff’s arrival on the field before the start of the Hogs ’ 22-20 loss Sept. 11, 2004, in Razorback Stadium.

With all due respect to Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe, the red meat of the Arkansas Razorbacks’ football season begins Saturday at 2: 30 p. m. at Austin, Texas.

During the next dozen weekends, the Hogs will play the 10 games that will define the 2008 season, and while it certainly is a daunting task, facing the Texas Longhorns is not only an appropriate, but also ironic, place to start.

It’s appropriate because despite the fact that the teams have not played regularly since Arkansas bolted from the Southwest Conference following the 1991 football season, the Razorbacks still share more history with the Longhorns than any other opponent.

And while the sentiment is slowly changing, for the most part there is no other team in the universe Razorbacks fans would rather beat than the Steers.

So, it’s certainly appropriate that first-year head coach Bobby Petrino and first-year athletics director Jeff Long get a taste of what it means when the Hogs meet the Horns.

Many of Arkansas’ greatest victories and bitterest defeats have come when the Razorbacks have tangled with Texas.

Any Hog fan who witnessed the 1969 game — whether in person, by TV or on the radio — can tell you the mixture of elation and anxiety they felt as the Hogs led into the fourth quarter and then of the utter despair when a long fourth-down pass from an option quarterback to a tight end turned what could have been an Arkansas championship season on its head.

Likewise, Razorbacks rooters recall that misty, humid October day in 1981, when an unranked Razorbacks squad — that had actually lost to TCU for the first time in 23 years two weeks before — tanned the No. 1-ranked, Sports Illustrated coverboy Longhorns’ hides, 42-11, in a game that wasn’t even that close.

For the Razorbacks and their fans, there is nothing like beating Texas. Nothing. Not even close.

Why ?

Because in the past, beating the Longhorns always brought validation and the one thing everyone who has anything to do with the Razorbacks football program wants — national respect.

Since joining the SEC, the Hogs have beaten every team in the league, with the exception of Florida, but no SEC victory has delivered like Arkansas’ two victories over Texas during that same time span.

Arkansas’ 24-14 victory over Texas in the 2000 Cotton Bowl gave the program the juice need to refurbish and expand Razorback Stadium, and the 38-28 victory in 2003 at Austin catapulted the Hogs from being unranked to No. 14 in the AP poll. The Razorbacks swiftly rose to No. 7 before Auburn edged the Hogs in Fayetteville two weeks later.

Why is it ironic that the Petrino era begins with a trip to Austin ?

Because for the foreseeable future, Saturday’s game will likely be the last time the Hogs will meet the Longhorns for about a decade, unless they are paired in a bowl.

Yes, Saturday’s game is the first year of a two-year home-and-home deal, but I seriously doubt the Longhorns will ever return the game to Fayetteville.

In this instance, don’t blame it on the Longhorns. It’s Arkansas’ idea.

Arkansas asked Texas to postpone the series so that they could participate in a lucrative deal brokered by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones that will pay Arkansas and Texas A & M $ 5 million each to play each other every year in Jones’ new stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The deal is for at least six years and has a rollover clause that could carry it on for a decade or more.

Obviously, considering the Hogs’ SEC schedule, Arkansas’ administrators don’t want to play the Longhorns and the Aggies in the same season. That’s why I doubt Texas will ever return the game.

The A & M series is also one of the reasons the Hogs needed / wanted to negotiate their way out of playing three games in Little Rock by the 2015 season.

To sign the A & M deal, Arkansas has basically given up a Fayetteville home game every other season.

While the move means one less ballgame weekend for local hotels, restaurants and businesses every other year, it was worth it to the UA because of the huge $ 5 million payout.

Arkansas estimates it can make around $ 2 million for a sold-out game at Razorback Stadium, so that’s a $ 3 million surplus on years when a similar game would have been played in Fayetteville.

It’s a $ 5 million surplus on years in which the game would be on the road because home-and-home deals between power conference opponents generally do not contain payouts between the schools.

So, obviously, in a twoyear span there were $ 8 million reasons for Arkansas to do the deal with Jones and the Aggies. The UA would have been foolish not to make it happen.

But since the money doesn’t matter to me, I personally don’t like playing the Aggies every year in Dallas at the cost of losing a home Texas game.

Remember the atmosphere on campus when the Longhorns came to Fayetteville in 2004 ? Without a doubt, it was the best atmosphere for a Razorbacks game I’ve ever experienced — home or away; Little Rock or Fayetteville — since at least 1975.

Sure, there’s a good number of Arkansas fans in Dallas, and we Arkies do enjoy a party weekend in Big D from time to time, but you will never convince me that playing the Aggies in Dallas is a neutral situation.

While the two schools will probably get the same number of tickets, I’m sure a good number of the seats will be sold to corporations and there are lot more Aggies working for Texas corporations than Razorbacks.

There is the thought that playing in Dallas will help Arkansas’ recruiting, and I’m sure it will to a degree, but in all honesty, how many recruits who have had offers from the Aggies and Longhorns, and for that matter Oklahoma, who have opted to be Razorbacks instead ?

Some, no doubt, but I would argue those players were pre-disposed to leave the Lone Star State, anyway.

But I digress.

The Razorbacks’ true season begins this week with a trip to Texas. Hog fans young and old should cherish this week even though most believe the Razorbacks will be overmatched in Austin.

More than any other matchup, this one invokes the rich history and best traditions of the Razorbacks football program.

Fans need to soak it up this week because there is no telling when, where or if the Hogs and Horns will hook up next.

Terry J. Wood is the sports editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times.