Since Bret Bielema took over the program at Arkansas, the mindset has been all about building for and looking to the future.

However, for three hours on Monday, Dec. 29, Arkansas coaches, players and fans will get to relive the past.

The Razorbacks accepted a bowl bid to the Advocare Texas Bowl on Sunday. Their opponent? The Texas Longhorns.

An old Southwest Conference rivalry will be renewed the first Monday after Christmas, when the Hogs and Longhorns take the field at NRG Stadium in Houston.

Arkansas and Texas have met 77 times, in a series that dates back to 1894. The Longhorns hold a 56-21 lead all-time, the last meeting coming in 2008.

Bielema couldn’t have chosen a better matchup, had he made the selection himself.

“The neat thing since I came here is to learn about all the traditions of the past and how they can carry into the future,” Bielema said on Sunday after learning his team’s bowl destination. “To get to be a part of some of those that came before us and honor that tradition and history is huge.”

Though Texas is the bigger national brand, and has made a name for itself as a member of the Big 12 Conference, these are two programs whose paths were forged and early legacies written as members of the Southwest Conference.

The Longhorns garnered 25 Southwest Conference championships during the 82-year history of the league. Arkansas captured 14 conference titles.

The list of names that have played in the rivalry are those of college football lore.

Earl Campbell. Kenneth Sims. Darrell K. Royal. Ricky Williams. Lou Holtz. Frank Broyles. Billy Ray Smith, Jr. Darren McFadden.

When the rivalry is rekindled after a six-year hiatus, it will be two youthful teams with young head coaches looking to make their mark on one of the most historic rivalries in college football history.

“To think back and realize that two coaching with legends, with Coach Broyles and Coach Darrell Royal and have an opportunity to join that same series in pretty cool,” Bielema said. “For me as a relatively young head coach, you hear a lot about those games and those coaches and the people involved, and now to be a part of that is really cool.”

In just two years as Arkansas head coach, Bielema’s Razorbacks teams have now faced Texas A&M, Texas Tech and now Texas. The Hogs also have TCU scheduled in the coming years, all former members of the Southwest Conference.

The on-field product is sure to look different. Bielema is in year-two of an overhaul in Fayetteville; six wins is impressive considering the state of the Arkansas program when Bielema took over in December 2012 and the 3-9 campaign the Razorbacks suffered through last season.

First-year Texas head coach Charlie Strong is in the beginning stages of a significant reconstruction in Austin, as well.

Both programs and fan bases want to concentrate on the future of Arkansas and Texas football, and that’s fine. Recent years have been hard to stomach for these prideful, and tradition-laden, programs.

But there’s the old adage “to appreciate where you’re going, you have to look at where you’ve been.”

And for a few hours one Monday night, Arkansas fans — both young and old — should enjoy looking back and see from where it’s come.

There’s no better time for that than the first Monday after Christmas.