Most of the positive aspects of Arkansas’s football team identity came during the Broyles era, when the Razorbacks won the 1964 national championship, appeared in four Cotton Bowls and four Sugar Bowls, and won the Southwest Conference title seven times.

OSU’s Gundy program has 18 consecutive bowl appearances. In 2010-23, while eight Cowboy teams finished with at least 10 wins, Arkansas had five head coaches and seven teams with at least seven losses. In 32 seasons since joining the SEC, only seven Razorback teams have finished with a winning record in the league.

In terms of recent performance, OSU’s program has been considerably more successful.

In terms of all-time performance, these programs are about on par.

For the first time since 1980, the Razorbacks and Cowboys will clash in a football game. It’s an 11 a.m. showdown on ABC at a sold-out Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, and it’s a great matchup because the teams appear to have similar talent.

The Cowboys are 7½-point favorites, but the choice here is a 34-30 win for Arkansas because of an intangible factor for the Razorbacks — desperation — that negates OSU’s home-field advantage.

Consider a website that focuses on the “hot seat coaches” in college football. At or near the top of every list of “win now or get fired” head coaches is Arkansas’s Sam Pittman, who has an 11-14 record since leading the Razorbacks to nine wins in 2021.

The 2023 Hogs are 4-8, but look how close Pittman’s team came to having a good season: They lost by seven to BYU, by three to LSU, by seven to Ole Miss, by three to Alabama and by four to Mississippi State.

Arkansas had a strong offseason in the transfer market and, notably, brought Bobby Petrino back to Fayetteville as offensive coordinator.

Petrino was a successful head coach at Arkansas from 2008 to 2011, but was fired in 2012 after being involved in a scandal involving a female staff member and a broken engine.

Among the newcomers from the Hogs portal is 6-foot-6 dual-threat QB Taylen Green, who played at Boise State. Landon Jackson is a 6-7, 290-pound edge rusher who will play in the NFL. A frequent target in the Arkansas passing game is tight end Luke Hasz, a product of the Bixby dynasty.

Petrino is considered one of the best players in college football. Is Bryan Nardo, second-year OSU defensive coordinator, ready to win that coaching contest?

And how about the Oklahoma State offensive line that didn’t do a great job of run-blocking in last week’s season opener against South Dakota State? OSU averaged just 3.3 yards per rush attempt and Ollie Gordon had 13 carries where the total gain was no more than 3 yards.

Arkansas seems confident it can have a special season, and a win in Stillwater would further bolster that confidence among Razorback fans.

The three most notable stats from the Razorbacks’ 70-0, season-opening rout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Arkansas had a touchdown on each of its 10 offensive possessions. Arkansas limited the Golden Lions to 7 rushing yards on 23 attempts. There were 14,000 empty seats at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

Empty seats: This is a common problem on programs with a hot-seat bus.

Arkansas had the financial resources to hire basketball coach John Calipari away from Kentucky and to provide sufficient funding for the NIL situation necessary for a Calipari selection.

Arkansas policymakers and influential people are surely tired of mediocre football, and Petrino has an office in the Razorback football building again.

No one in college football has more job security than Gundy.

Pittman needs more than Gundy on Saturday.

This Arkansas team outperformed expectations and was tipped to finish 14th in the 16-team SEC during pre-season.

Pittman is in desperate need of a signature win. To gain momentum in their SEC schedule, the Razorbacks are in desperate need of a signature win, and I expect to see that on Saturday.

In the first American football game between Arkansas and OSU since Jimmy Carter was president of the United States, the Razorbacks win 34-30.