At first glance the Notre Dame home opener isn’t against a stunning opponent as the Arkansas Razorbacks make their first trip to Notre Dame Stadium.ย However, when the two programs meet for the first time in each other’s history the Razorbacks will do so with more intrigue than perhaps previously thought.
Arkansas is coming off an embarrassing 2-10 season in which they fired Chad Morris with just two games remaining.ย Barry Lunney, Jr. coached the final two games of 2019 in an interim role before the school announced Georgia’s offensive line coach Sam Pittman to be their head coach in early-December.
Pittman doesn’t appear to be wasting any time upping the talent at Arkansas as he has found his quarterback for 2020.
Former Florida quarterback and grad-transfer Feleipe Franks announced Monday he would be transferring to Arkansas for his fifth year.
Franks started 13 games for Florida in 2018 and helped lead the Gators to a massive turnaround, going 10-3 and winning the Peach Bowl over Michigan.ย He threw for 2457 yards that season with 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions while adding seven more scores on the ground.
Franks broke his ankle in Florida’s third game of 2019 and missed the remainder of the season.
Arkansas will be the third SEC opponent to visit Notre Dame Stadium the last four seasons, joining Georgia in ’17 and Vanderbilt in ’18.