Kickoff times announced for early season Arkansas football games

The SEC announced kickoff times and the full television schedule for the first three weeks of the 2024 season Thursday. Here’s when Arkansas will kick off against Oklahoma State and UAB.

The Southeastern Conference announced kickoff times and the full television schedule for the first three weeks of the 2024 football season on Thursday at the league’s annual spring meetings in Florida.

Arkansas will get a national spotlight early in the season when it travels to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State on September 7. The Razorbacks’ Week 2 contest will kick off at 11 a.m. CT and be televised by ABC. It will mark Arkansas’ first appearance on ABC since 2014 when the Hogs traveled to Lubbock to play Texas Tech.

ABC is the new home for the SEC’s coveted 2:30 p.m. time slot after the league’s 18-year run with CBS ended. ABC still has rights to broadcast Big 12 games, which makes the early kickoff for Arkansas-Oklahoma State appetizing to both the network and the SEC. The Cowboys went 10-4 last season and beat Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl.

Arkansas’ Week 3 matchup against UAB on September 14 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium was announced as a 3:15 p.m. kickoff. The game will be televised by SEC Network. The Blazers were 4-8 last season in the AAC under first-year head coach and former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer.

And in a new scheduling wrinkle, the league announced Thursday that the annual Battle Line Rivalry between Arkansas and Missouri will no longer be played on Black Friday. The game is instead scheduled for Saturday, November 30.

The Razorbacks had been a Black Friday staple since joining the SEC in 1992. With the exception of the 2020 pandemic-altered season, the Hogs played the Tigers annually on Black Friday since Missouri joined the SEC in 2012. Prior to that, Arkansas had played LSU on the day after Thanksgiving.

Instead of Arkansas-Missouri, the SEC announced that the annual Egg Bowl rivalry between Ole Miss and Mississippi State would take place on Black Friday this season, a shift from its usual Thanksgiving Night kickoff.

The Hogs’ season-opener against UAPB at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock had already been announced as a 6:30 p.m. kickoff for Thursday, August 29. That game will be televised by ESPNU.

Arkansas’ 2024 scheduled kickoffs

  • Aug. 29 vs. UAPB (6:30 p.m., ESPNU)
  • Sept. 7 at Oklahoma State (11 a.m., ABC)
  • Sept. 14 vs. UAB (3:15 p.m., SEC Network)
  • Sept. 21 at Auburn (TBA)
  • Sept. 28 vs. Texas A&M (at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TBA)
  • Oct. 5 vs. Tennessee (TBA)
  • Oct. 12 BYE
  • Oct. 19 vs. LSU (TBA)
  • Oct. 26 at Mississippi State (TBA)
  • Nov. 2 vs. Ole Miss (TBA)
  • Nov. 9 IDLE
  • Nov. 16 vs. Texas (TBA)
  • Nov. 23 vs. Louisiana Tech (TBA)
  • Nov. 30 at Missouri (TBA)

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How Arkansas football opponents did in Week 11

Arkansas will rue the missed opportunities if the Hogs can’t get a win in their final two.

What began as one of the hardest schedules in FBS, Arkansas’ 12-game regular-season slate isn’t quite shaping up that way.

That’s troubling for a Razorbacks team that is 5-5 and still hasn’t clinched bowl eligibility with two games left.

The best teams in the SEC are still the best teams in the SEC. Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU are solid, even if none of them may make the College Football Playoff by virtue of beating up on one another.

But the rest? Texas A&M is in the midst of its worst season in decades. Auburn fired its coach midseason after falling to the Hogs. BYU, Missouri State and South Carolina haven’t lived up to expectations. Liberty fell to lowly UConn on Saturday. About the only team that is fitting is Cincinnati.

It’s a good thing strength-of-schedule is largely irrelevant now. All the Hogs have to do is win one of its next two games and at least something will salvage.

How Arkansas opponents did in Week 10

Arkansas very well could be underdogs in each of its final three college football games.

A 5-4 record isn’t a bad record. But at Arkansas, given the way the Razorbacks have achieved the record and with what lies ahead in the final three games of the regular season, a 5-4 record is troubling.

Arkansas is coming off a loss to Liberty on Saturday, 21-19, in a game the Hogs were favored by about two touchdowns. Next week, Arkansas returns to SEC play against LSU, the same LSU that beat Alabama on Saturday, the same Alabama that beat Arkansas handily in Week 5.

After that? Ole Miss, which is ranked ahead of both the Tigers and Crimson Tide. And, finally, Missouri, which lost to ranked Kentucky on Saturday by only four points.

The reality is that Arkansas could be in a heap of trouble. Following last year’s 8-4 record, a 5-7 record is a distinct possibility.

And it can’t just be blamed on the schedule. The truth is that Arkansas hasn’t beaten a quality team since Week 1 against Cincinnati.

Let’s examine what all of Arkansas’ opponents did in Week 10.

A look at Arkansas football’s future nonconference opponents

We know most of Arkansas football’s nonconference schedule for the next 10 years.

Much has been made about the difficulty of the Arkansas football team’s nonconference schedule. Coach Sam Pittman has even broached the topic voluntarily.

The good news is that 2022 is the last year Arkansas will have to run such a gauntlet.

The Razorbacks host Liberty on Saturday in their last nonconference game of the season. The Flames are, like Cincinnati and Brigham Young before, the third ranked team on Arkansas’ out-of-SEC slate. The other team the Hogs played was Missouri State, coached by former head man Bobby Petrino.

Such a Top-25 run shouldn’t be an issue most years going forward. Arkansas has its hands full enough during conference play. Winning SEC games would be enough to give the Razorbacks a chance at a national championship, so the need for a tough nonconference schedule is a bit of overkill.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at who the Hogs will have in future years.

How Arkansas’ opponents did in Week 4

Alabama visits Arkansas in Week 5 and the Crimson Tide are on a roll.

The meat of the SEC has arrived for the Arkansas football team.

Saturday’s loss to Texas A&M, 23-21, was a stinger and slipped the Razorbacks from the ranks of the unbeaten. But it isn’t as though the Aggies actually outplayed Arkansas, either.

The Hogs will learn and the Hogs will grow. And they’ll do so quickly, especially as Alabama heads to Fayetteville in Week 5. Arkansas can still not only play spoiler to the perpetual national-title contenders, but a win would get the Razorbacks right back to where they were pre-A&M, too.

The schedule will not get easier. That’s the SEC. Arkansas has plenty of opportunity upcoming to get things back in the win column and make plenty of national noise in doing so.

How did Arkansas’ opponents do in Week 3?

Arkansas’ opponents continue impressing – outside of Auburn – leaving the Hogs with the nation’s toughest schedule still.

The SEC is a bear. Arkansas will find out in the next few weeks just how big that bear is.

Or, perhaps, maybe the Hogs are actually Grizzlies. Anyway, they beat the Bears in Week 3, regardless, which portends positive things for Arkansas going forward.

The Razorbacks head to Arlington, Texas, on to face off against suddenly-revitalized Texas A&M after the Aggies beat Miami (FL) on Saturday. A&M won nine straight games in the series before Sam Pittman and Hogs nicked them last year. The following Monday, Arkansas was ranked No. 8 in the country.

A win this year could probably lift the Hogs to the same, depending, of course, on who ahead of them might lose.

But things are about to get fun. Let’s take a look at how everyone else on the Arkansas schedule did heading into the first full, big week of conference play across college football.

How did Arkansas’ opponents do in Week 2?

Arkansas’ schedule is still the hardest in the nation, but the Hogs have to be feeling good given what happened in Week 2.

Arkansas’ schedule before the season was rated as the toughest in the country. Technically, it still is.

But after Alabama barely survived against Texas and Texas A&M fell to a Sun Belt team, the Hogs’ path to the promised land at least looks a bit easier.

Of course, it’s still the SEC and anything could happen. Week 2 proved that.

Arkansas looked the part of contender in beating South Carolina, 44-30, at home, but the rest of the league looks a bit jumbled after two weeks. Let’s take a quick look at how every team on Arkansas’ schedule – even those outside the conference – did in Week 2.

A quick look at how Arkansas’ 2022 opponents did in Week 1

Every team on Arkansas’ schedule picked up a victory in Week 1 heading into Sunday.

Talk about a banner week for the best conference in college football.

The SEC’s results in the opening week were perfect. Well, outside of LSU, which plays Sunday night against Florida State. But otherwise, every team in the league picked up victories. Yes, even Vanderbilt.

That’s a good news-bad news situation for Arkansas, which has the toughest schedule in the country. If the Razorbacks keep winning following Saturday’s victory over Cincinnati, the Hogs will be in spectacular position. It also means every game is going to be a dogfight.

But that was to be expected. Such is life playing in the SEC.

Here’s a quick look at how every team on Arkansas’ schedule looked in Week 1 of the college football season.

Arkansas’ memorable nonconference games since 2000

A quick look at the Hogs’ early season non-conference games.

Early season non-conference games are exciting. Two teams who normally don’t see each other, pairing their styles against each other for 60 game-clock minutes.

Arkansas has one of the most anticipated non-conference matchups this season when they host No. 23 Cincinnati on Labor Day weekend inside Razorback stadium.

The Bearcats were voted into the College Football Playoffs after winning 13 games last season. According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, Arkansas is a 59% favorite over the back-to-back American Athletic Conference champions.

As we prepare for the start of the 2022 season, let’s take a look at some of the most memorable early-season non-conference games since the start of the new millennium.