At the SEC Media Days on Wednesday, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian spent some time talking about the Arkansas Razorbacks.

First off, Sarkisian said he would have liked it if Texas had played better when it visited Arkansas during the 2021 season. In his second game as UT's head coach, Sarkisian was on the sideline for a 40-21 loss in Fayetteville that forced the Longhorns to change their starting quarterback.

Sarkisian then noted something he had observed about Arkansas fans. Three years ago, Texas was beaten in front of a raucous crowd of 74,531 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Fans stormed the field afterwards to celebrate the Razorbacks' 19-point win.

"I jokingly say this, I feel like when you go to Arkansas, (at times it) feels like they hate Texas more than they like themselves. That's a real rivalry. That's when you know you're in a real rivalry," Sarkisian said. "I know so much has been made of us getting to play A&M again but the fact that we get to play Arkansas again is awesome. How many teams in the country get to play three rivalry games in the regular season?"

On Thursday, Arkansas was among the featured teams at the SEC Media Days. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman didn't disagree with Sarkisian when he was asked about those comments about his fans.

"I would say he's probably right," Pittman said. "The difference is Texas is certainly a different team than what we played (in 2021). That was his first year there and now obviously he's a great coach, great guy. Got a wonderful football team.

"But I'm glad that we're going to play them at home again. You know, I don't know if that's fair because they came there two years ago. But it's an early-morning game, so -- but he's probably correct. You would have to ask the old hats of Arkansas, but he's probably right."

The Longhorns will travel to Arkansas on Nov. 16. Texas has played its old Southwest Conference foes 79 times before, but only six of those games have taken place in the last 30 years.

In its first year as a member of the Southeastern Conference, Texas also has games against Oklahoma and Texas A&M on its schedule. Oklahoma and UT have played every year since 1929, but the Longhorns and Aggies will be meeting for the first time since 2011.

"So much has been made of conference realignment and so much has been made of teams now traveling across the country or losing rivalry games that they've had historically," Sarkisian said. "We've benefited. We got two back. We're looking forward to it, it's one of the beauties of making this move (to the SEC)."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas coach Steve Sarkisian hasn't forgotten Arkansas football fans