LITTLE ROCK, ARK. ? Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles talks to alumni and fans about the glory days of the Southwest Conference all the time.

The discussion never strays from one topic — Texas.

“Since we left the Southwest Conference, I have had many questions and comments about games we played in the past and 100 percent of them are games against Texas,” said Broyles, reliving his coaching years while coach Houston Nutt’s Razorbacks prepare for a Saturday game at No. 6 Texas. “No one has recalled any other games.”

Even Broyles’ memory has instant recall for Texas games.

“I can tell you everything we did wrong in the games we lost and everything we did right in the games we won and I can’t do that for any other team in the conference,” Broyles said.

There’s a good reason for that.

In 19 seasons under Broyles, the Razorbacks finished their SWC slate with one loss eight times. Seven of those eight losses were against Texas.

Big wins over Texas A&M, Texas Tech or Rice carry no weight and no one talks about the Baylor loss in 1960, the one year Texas didn’t hand the Razorbacks their only SWC loss.

Arkansas went to the Cotton Bowl that year anyway, thanks to Broyles’ first win over Texas, 24-23.

Winless in his first two games against Texas, Broyles — a Georgia native — finally understood how much beating the Longhorns meant to Arkansans after the game.

“When I went in the locker room players were crying and it was a happy cry,” Broyles said. “Even our backfield coach Merrill Green was crying. I realized how big it was for Arkansas coaches and players.”

Green grew up in Oklahoma and played for Sooners coach Bud Wilkinson, so he also understood what it meant to beat Texas.

Broyles coached the Razorbacks longer than any other at Arkansas, and he has been the school’s athletic director since 1973. His teams beat Darrell Royal-coached Texas teams just five times in those 19 years, but Broyles called the 1960 victory his most important over the Longhorns.

When team planes returned to Fayetteville, Broyles said pilots had to quickly turn off the propellers because students and fans rushed the runway. Players and coaches rode on students’ shoulders from the plane to waiting buses.

The victory opened a recruiting base for Arkansas in Texas that still exists today. There are 26 Texans on the Razorbacks’ roster, including seven starters.

The fruit of Arkansas’ first successful forays into Texas ripened to give Broyles three straight victories over the Longhorns from 1964-66. The Razorbacks went undefeated in 1964 and only a 14-7 loss to LSU in the 1966 Cotton Bowl kept them from back-to-back 11-0 seasons.

Saturday, the Razorbacks seek their first three-game winning streak over Texas since those three seasons. Arkansas beat Texas in 1991, its final season in the SWC, and again in the 2000 Cotton Bowl.

Broyles and Royal will play golf Friday and then will be at midfield for the coin toss Saturday.

The two coaches became friends over the years, vacationing together on a couple of occasions and playing golf at least once or twice a year. Broyles often tells the story of how they’ve talked only once about their games.

On a plane ride to Michigan to speak at a coaching clinic, Royal asked Broyles if he was stealing Texas’ defensive signals during a 1971 game. Broyles countered by asking if Royal was stealing Arkansas’ offensive signals in 1962.

Both answered “Yes,” and the discussion ended.