Both Arkansas and Texas were undefeated when they met in Austin for their annual showdown. Since Frank Broyles became the Arkansas coach in 1958, the Razorbacks had defeated Darrell Royal's Longhorns just once in six tries.

For the third time in the last six years, both teams were undefeated in their first four games, with Texas ranked #1 and Arkansas #8 in the polls. The Longhorns boasted a 15-game winning streak, the longest in major college ranks. The winner would have the inside track for the Southwest Conference championship and the host spot in the Cotton Bowl.

Coming off a disappointing 5-5 1963 season, Broyles and his staff installed a new offense for 1964. They ditched the Split-T for John McKay's USC version of the I-formation. Broyles added a wingback to the package. The result was an attack that fit the Hogs' strengths: running ability, speed, and the occasional pass.

Broyles' staff included four future head coaches: Johnny Majors (Iowa State, Pittsburgh, and Tennessee), Jim Mackenzie (Oklahoma), Bill Pace (Vander­bilt), and Barry Switzer (Oklahoma)

The Razorback offense was led by senior QB Fred Marshall and the slashing running of TB Jack Brasnell. Another weapon was Ken Hatfield's damaging punt returns. George Schroeder summarized the '64 team like this in his book Hogs! The Story of Razorbacks Football: "The Hogs weren't star-studded. They were made up mostly of try-hard kids."

Offensive assistant Merv Johnson recalled that the '64 team "were a bunch guys like Jerry Jones," a 190-halfback converted to guard who would gain fame as the Dallas Cowboys' owner. "Kind of an average athlete, but a try-hard relentless, never-quit kind of guy. We had a lot of guys that were really average athletes that made up for it with their attitude."

"We dedicated ourselves," said Marshall. "We realized in the '63 season that we weren't living up to our capability. And we were embarrassed."

Texas lost 16 seniors from the '63 national champions. Only three starters re­turned on offense. "I've been spoiled. I'll admit that," Royal said, but he knew he had lots of talent returning. "We're in good shape at the ends and in the backfield … and from tackle to tackle we're not hurting until we get past the starters."

Royal's Longhorns ran the split T that he learned as Bud Wilkinson's quarter­back at Oklahoma from 1946 to 1949. Marvin Kristynik was the signal-caller with Ernie Koy and Harold Philipp the leading ground gainers at halfback. Texas passed less than most teams as evidenced by the fact that their top two receivers, George Sauer and Pete Lammons, had only 25 receptions between them for the entire season.

Memorial Stadium was packed to its 65,700 capacity on a hot, humid evening. Fans were treated to a close, hard-fought game that wasn't decided until the last minute.

Texas assistant coach Russell Coffee, who was assigned to scout the Razor­backs, was quoted as saying Hatfield's punt returns were "the most dangerous thing they've got. … Boy, is he wicked!" Truer words were never spoken.

The first quarter was a punting duel between Ernie Koy of Texas and Bobby Nix. Finally, Arkansas's 1963 national leader in punt returns broke the scoring ice in the second period. Hatfield was aided by a Texas injury that brought a backup special teams player onto the field.

Longhorn FB Tim Doerr suffered a knee injury in the first quarter. He was re­placed on the punt team by LB Fred Edwards, whose experience on punt coverage was limited to the blackboard. He fanned out to the right to cover Koy's punt. As Edwards ran down under Koy's 47y kick, he didn't notice trouble forming. Arkansas was constructing a wall for Hatfield, who fielded the ball on his 19 and, escaping a tackler, sped to the left sideline to get behind the wall and turn the cor­ner. Instead of staying wide, Edwards veered inside, allowing Hatfield a path to the end zone. "It was a perfect alley," Hatfield said. "It was one of those things you dream about happening." Men in orange clutched and missed as blockers hit them just in time. Koy, Texas' last hope, was brushed aside as Hatfield sped untouched into the end zone. Tom McKnelly kicked the PAT to give Arkansas a 7-0 lead.

Hatfield, who would lead the nation in punt return yardage in both 1964 and '65, recalled the 81y punt return this way. "That one went the way it was drawn up on the blackboard. Ernie Koy's kick was right straight at me and a little too far for them to be there when I got it. Texas is a good team, and none of their players were loafing. They were all just where they were supposed to be. I couldn't tell it at the time, you never can, but five Texas guys got blocked just as they reached out for me. … I kinda juked Koy after he'd been screened by Lamb."

The punt return "turned the whole game around," said Broyles afterward.

With seemingly the whole state of Arkansas tuned into the radio broadcast of the game, the 7,000 people in attendance at a small-college game in Conway AK be­tween Arkansas State Teachers College and Arkansas Tech let out a roar in the middle of the halftime show when Hatfield put the Hogs in front.

Texas responded with a drive that reached the Arkansas 28 only to be set back by a penalty that prevented them from scoring before the half ended.

The defensive struggle continued into the third period until the Longhorns start­ed a methodical march from the Arkansas 48. They pounded all the way to the two where they faced fourth down and goal. Kristynik called the old reliable Split-T op­tion to the weak side with Phil Harris in fly motion just before the snap. The de­fense forced Kristynik to pitch to Harris, who was collared by RE Bobby Roper at the 5, but Harris shifted gears and carried him into the end zone.

When Arkansas was called for offsides on David Conway's game-tying kick, Royal toyed briefly with going for two points from the 1½ but decided to keep the 7-7 tie with 12:42 left in the game.

The Razorbacks, who had made only five first downs, immediately faced fourth down on their next possession when they fell a yard short of the marker on third down. But long snapper Ken Hatfield, Ken's older brother, kept the drive alive with a heads-up play. He noticed earlier in the game that the Longhorns were slow to change units when Arkansas punted. With the ball on the hash mark closer to the Arkansas bench, he encouraged his teammates to set up quickly and punt before all the Texas players were off the field. "They had a long way to go to get off the field," he said. "I snapped it quick." Sure enough, the officials brought the ball back and penalized Texas 5y for having 12 men of the field.

Given new life, Arkansas gained a first down when Bobby Crockett caught a third-down pass at his shoe tops on the 36. The Hogs advanced to a third down at the UT 34. QB Marshall called the same short sideline pass to Crockett on the left side, but Texas anticipated the move.

"We felt like they'd be running the sidelines," said Dixon. "We decided to 'level' and keep 'em off the sidelines. The boy (Crockett) just happened to run the right play at the wrong time for us." Seeing Dixon take away the short pass, Crockett free-lanced and broke past him to gather in the 34y touchdown pass from Marshall.

Marshall recalled: "When it came time for Crockett to make his 90-degree turn to the boundary, the defensive back came up hard. Bobby saw it, and I saw it, and I knew he would switch to a fly pattern, and he did. The excitement that came over me in the next second is indescribable. 'My god,' six points,' I said to myself. 'All I've got to do is throw it.' I'd never had that feeling before. The rest seemed like an eter­nity. The play covered only 34y, but it seemed like I threw the ball 80y, most of it straight up. Knowing Crockett, he'd be under it. By the time the ball got there, a man was on his back, but he caught it and stepped on over."

"He wasn't supposed to go long," Marshall said after the game. "He went to the sideline, but the halfback (Dixon) came over to cover, so he cut downfield. A great heads-up play by Bobby."

McKneely's PAT put Arkansas back ahead 14-7.

Texas returned the kickoff to the 30 with 6:15 left. The Longhorns had driven that distance in the last minutes to beat the Razorbacks two years earlier. Could they do it again?

Koy started by gaining 17y on two carries, and Kristynik connected with E Bar­ney Giles for a 16y pass to the Arkansas 37. Then Koy punched out a first down at the 25 before Kristynik tossed a flare pass to reserve TB Hix Green for a first down at the 12

Green carried to the eight, but Arkansas rose up with two defensive gems. But the Hogs were penalized for a face mask penalty to put the ball back on the 8. Philipp ran off tackle for a first down at the 2. Koy finished the drive by racing through a gaping hole at right tackle with 1:27 left in the game. Arkansas 14 Texas 13.

Texas called timeout so the coaching staff could decide whether to kick the tying point or go for two. Royal might have settled for a tie in some situations but not while carrying the #1 ranking and a 15-game winning streak. So he decided to roll the dice and go for the win.

On the other sideline, Broyles told his defensive assistants not to signal the de­fensive call until the Longhorns broke the huddle. With Royal taking his time to make up his mind, receiver Hix Green joined the Texas huddle. Then Koy replaced Green. Finally, Green came back in.

The signal from Arkansas assistant Wilson Matthews came in late. Texas had already broken the huddle. LB Ronnie Caveness, the leader of the Razorback de­fense with 25 tackles for the evening, was about to call timeout. As the offense moved into position on the line of scrimmage, the Razorbacks scrambled to get into position.

The defensive call was "eagle-fire." Arkansas had worked on it during two-a-days before the season started but very little since. The ends deployed wider than usual. Both of them and the linebackers were told to rush hard. That left the defense vul­nerable to a pass over the middle.

The call was the same flare pass to Green in the right flat that worked earlier in the drive. But this time, ends Jim Finch and Bobby Roper pressured Kristynik as he faked a handoff to the fullback, then dropped back to roll out to the right. But when he turned to throw, Finch was in his face. Kristynik got the throw off, but his hurried pass bounced in front of the receiver, Green, who dived backward for it.

"Marvin couldn't get it off like he wanted," Green told reporters. "He had to hurry it. It got to me on the bounce. I couldn't get to it."

Royal would remember the play with regret even years later. "We didn't have room to throw the ball. We had the receiver wide open, but their defensive end made a great play and came right on through our pulling guard and put the heat on our quarterback."

Kristynik explained: "When I took the snap, I wheeled out, and it looked like someone was right there on me. Hix looked open for a second, but I hurried my throw."

"That was for the whole load of watermelons," Royal said afterward. "There never was any doubt about what we'd do. The players and coaches all wanted to go for it. There was no hesitation, and there are no regrets. That's one I'll never second-guess." Films showed that, even if the ball had been perfectly thrown, Green prob­ably would not have made it into the end zone.

Royal: "We had our guard taking a little jab step before coming out to block on the end. He simply didn't have time to get back out to get a crashing end."

Texas had to recover the onside kick, but it did not travel 10y, which allowed Arkansas to take over and kill the clock.

When the horn sounded, jubilant Arkansas fans descended onto the field, and a few dug up tufts of grass from the south end of the field where Texas' failed two-point try took place.

The Longhorns shed many tears in the dressing room after the end of their 15-game winning streak. "I'd cry too if I wasn't so old," said Royal.

Statistics showed domination by Texas: 18-9 in first downs, 263-136 in total yards.

Referring to Conway's missed 39y field goal early in the game, Royal said, "The reason they won and deserved to win is that they played the kicking game better than we did." But he also cited the fourth-down penalty on the punt. "What a way to keep their drive going – not getting all our men off the field."

Arkansas assistant coach Johnny Majors worked with the defensive secondary. He recalled: "Darrell Royal showed real class after that game. We knew that losing by one point had to have been terrible for him … but he came to the Arkansas dressing room and made a talk to our team that I'll always remember. He said, 'Since we had to lose, we don't want to lose to anybody less than the national champions. We want you guys to go on and win 'em all.' That was not an empty gesture; he meant it." But Royal also warned the Hogs, "If you stump your toe, remember, we're right behind you."

As the Arkansas team planes took off from Austin, the players noticed that the University of Texas tower, traditionally bathed in orange light after victories, was dark.

The Hogs were met at Drake Field in Fayetteville by several thousand students. The planes had to circle the airport three times while fans were cleared from the runways. Cars were parked along U.S. 71 from Drake Field all the way back to Fay­etteville. Streets in Little Rock were also jammed with revelers, who honked horns and called the Hogs into the wee hours.

The victory gave the Razorbacks confidence. Jim Finch told his father: "Y'all go to every ballgame and bet on us because we ain't gonna lose. They may not even score."

Both teams ran the table the rest of the season. Arkansas shut out its last five regular-season opponents. The Razorbacks were paired with Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl while #5 Texas drew #1 Alabama in the Orange Bowl. The Long­horns and Razorbacks both won to finish the season a combined 21-1.

Amazingly, all the polls released their "final" rankings before the bowl games. However, Arkansas was the consensus national champion after the bowls with Texas #2.