re: Time for the Hogs to go to the Big 12

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The only time Frank ever called me was in 1976 when he retired,” Switzer said. “He offered me the (Arkansas) job. He said he’d leave it open for three days to give me a chance to think about it.

“I told him I couldn’t leave the players we had recruited. We’d just won the titles in 1974 and ’75, and we had assembled so many great players in several classes.

“We’d brought in Kenny King, Billy Sims and so many other great ones. I told him we just had it going too good for me to leave and he understood.”

As far as playing the Razorbacks, Switzer said the Sooners had no room on the schedule.

“Of course, we had the nonconference game with Texas,” Switzer said of the Red River game played each year in Dallas. “And, the policy of our athletic department was that we’d also have one nonconference home-and-away series with a team on one of the coasts.

“We played Southern Cal, UCLA out west, then we’d play Penn State or someone east. We did that for national exposure. You play one easy game to start the season and it really didn’t allow for a spot to play Arkansas.

“It would have been pretty stupid to play both Texas and Arkansas nonconference. Like I said, it never came up.”

The Sooners had tough games against Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Missouri in their league.

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