In one of the most iconic photos in Longhorns football history, President Richard M. Nixon presents UT coach Darrell Royal a plaque proclaiming the Longhorns as the No. 1 team in college football after the 1969 “Game of the Century” between Texas and Arkansas. Texas won 15-14. (Houston Chronicle file).

AUSTIN — Matthew Golden wasn’t on the last Texas football team that faced Arkansas, which, to be honest, didn’t exactly go all that well for the boys in burnt orange.

But word has filtered out, and he heard a distinct rumor in the locker room.

“I hear they don’t like us,” the Texas wide receiver said unabashedly Monday.

Uh, yes, that’d be correct, Matthew.

The Razorbacks don’t like Texas. That goes for the whole football team, the 76,000 who will pack Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday (11 a.m., TV: ABC, Radio: The Team 92.1-FM), the equipment manager, the trainer, the cheerleaders, the beer vendors, the ushers, the program salesmen, the parking lot attendants … you get the drift. Heck, it goes for the entire state.

And Golden was sugarcoating it.

Arkansas doesn’t just dislike Texas. It hates Texas. It despises Texas. It spits on the very ground the Longhorns walk on. It’s part of every proud Razorback’s DNA.

This is, in fact, the most bitter rivalry that the rest of college football doesn’t really grasp. Or appreciate. Probably because few remember the Royal-Broyles days in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Steve Sarkisian said as much Monday.

Asked if the feud is underrated, the fourth-year Texas coach said, “I think it might be nationally. I don’t know if it gets the same exposure nationally as some. But internally, it’s getting the amount needed, as deserved.

“It’s been going on for a long, long time. I don’t know what Darrell Royal did back in the day, but they absolutely hate our guts.”

Pretty much true, although the Razorbacks like the Texas high school students who migrate to Arkansas, where they get to pay in-state tuition.

Sark went so far at SEC Media Days to say Arkansans “hate us more than they like themselves.” To which Hogs coach Sam Pittman responded, “Yeah, that’s pretty much right.”

It’s fine to mostly blame DKR for that because, well, the Longhorns legend almost always beat the Razorbacks. He won 15 of the 20 meetings.

He beat ‘em 15-14 in the Big Shootout, the acknowledged Game of the Century in 1969, in front of President Nixon, Billy Graham and a national television audience. He beat ‘em in the Big Shootout II the next year during back-to-back national championship runs. He beat ‘em in the final game of his career with a 5-5-1 team. He beat ‘em all the time.

The Hogs grew a little weary of getting beat so much, although in fairness, they kept the Horns from a national championship in 1964.

And it irks Hogs fans to no end that Texas doesn’t feel about Arkansas the way Arkansas feels about Texas. The Longhorns’ dominance in the series has a whole lot to do with that. And Texas couldn’t be bothered to work itself into a froth over playing the Hogs because in most years the Longhorns were too beat up and emotionally spent after playing OU the week before.

The Razorbacks, on the other hand, wanted to win too bad and pressed. They’d go for a touchdown in 1969 and get a pass intercepted by Tom Campbell when a simple Bill McClard field goal would do.

Arkansas gas stations have forever refused to sell petrol to cars with Texas license plates. At games, fans would act like they’re trying out for the Olympic whiskey bottle-throwing team long before a Texas student ever threw his first water bottle. Longhorn players were instructed never to remove their helmets.

To this day, I am told Royal had a grudge against counterpart and great golfing buddy Frank Broyles the day before the ‘69 spectacle but never shared it.

But the Razorbacks were mad about a lot of things. They were mad they were the only Southwest Conference school not located in Texas. They were positive SWC refs had it in for them. Maybe they were mad because they weren’t Texans.

Texas has more rivals than it knows what to do with.

Oklahoma remains No. 1 now and forever.

Texas A&M is a clear No. 2.

Arkansas might be No. 3, unless it was the SMU death-penalty Ponies or Houston’s run-and-shoot or Texas Tech with its airborne tortillas or Baylor’s worm-eating Bears or any of a number of schools. And that’s insulting to Arkansas, too.

And that explains why the Razorbacks revel in every victory over the Longhorns, including Arkansas’ five in the last seven meetings in a series Texas otherwise owns 56-23. Like on Sept. 11, 2021, when Sark brought his overmatched, quarterback-muddied team to Fayetteville and saw it undressed 41-20.

This was to be Arkansas’ warm welcome of Texas to the SEC, a few years before it became official, as the fans swarmed the field afterward.

Tight end Gunnar Helm was on that team with 10 other Longhorns still on the roster, nine of whom are starters today.

“Gunnar told me it was the worst feeling they ever felt walking off that field,” said junior safety Michael Taaffe, a freshman redshirting on that Texas team. “It was like a walk of shame, and they never wanted it to happen again.”

It happened then because Sarkisian’s roster was a far cry from the 8-1 Texas squad that will venture into that hostile stadium as the fifth-ranked team in the College Football Playoff standings and a 17-point favorite. That’s academic to Hogs fans.

Sarkisian considers that 2021 SEC baptism, if you will, a valuable teaching tool.

“It was good for myself and our staff and players to say that’s an SEC team, and at that time they weren’t on the top of the SEC,” he said. “So we had a hill to climb to get to where we wanted to get to. It feels pretty good knowing we’re going in there with what we think is a little better roster, a little better understanding.”

Arkansas, its eyes afire, bolted to a 16-0 halftime lead that evening as Texas struggled to put together any semblance of offense under quarterback Hudson Card, who eventually gave way to Casey Thompson late in the third quarter. Texas, not coincidentally, finished a distressing 5-7 that season.

“They came out on fire,” Longhorns defensive tackle Alfred Collins said. “They were very physical. They wanted to whip our asses, and they did.”

They most certainly did, and the Razorbacks would give up their firstborn for a repeat performance Saturday.

So was Razorback Stadium the most venomous those Longhorns ever played in?

“It’s definitely up there,” said center Jake Majors, who will be making his 51st career start Saturday but had to to endure that beatdown along with fellow offensive lineman Hayden Conner. “It’s a very hostile place to play. I don’t think Hayden got to play, but he was there, and he felt it.”

And none of them wants to experience that feeling ever again.

To ensure they don’t, Sarkisian on Monday broke out film of the Hogs’ field-storming three years ago.

“Yeah, we use subtle video reminders of what that game was like,” he said. “We may have some younger guys that are looking like it’s just another game, and I know those older guys are in the locker room talking about owning that environment. I know all 11 of those players probably got a bad taste in their mouths and got a chip on their shoulders from the last time we were there.”

Which sure as heck beats a whiskey bottle to the head.

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