FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas hasn’t played a football game in Nashville since 2011.
That changes in 12 days, and the trip finally has a start time.
The SEC said Monday the Arkansas Vanderbilt kickoff time is 6 p.m. Central on Saturday, Oct. 17.
ESPN2 will broadcast the game from FirstBank Stadium. in the Music City.
A night game on ESPN2 is about what a 2-3 team gets in October. The Razorbacks are 0-2 in SEC play.
Vanderbilt is too. Unless one of them breaks through this weekend, somebody’s leaving Nashville with a first league win.
Hogs haven’t lost at Vanderbilt
This will be the 11th game between the schools and Arkansas leads 7-3.
The road record is the part Hog fans will like. Arkansas is 4-0 at Vanderbilt.
The last trip was Oct. 29, 2011. The Razorbacks won 31-28, so it wasn’t exactly a stroll.
They haven’t played each other anywhere since 2018.
Vanderbilt left Razorback Stadium with a 45-31 win that day.
Eight years is a long gap for two schools in the same conference. The SEC schedule works in strange ways.
Tennessee comes first
Nobody’s packing for Nashville yet.
Texas A&M beat the Hogs 34-7 last weekend in their first SEC road game.
Now a ranked Tennessee team comes to Razorback Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is 3:15 p.m. on SEC Network.
Each side has won once over the past two seasons. Arkansas took the 2024 game 19-14 at home, and that Tennessee team was ranked fourth. The Vols won 34-31 in Knoxville last year.
Vanderbilt’s week isn’t any easier. The Commodores lost 38-14 at Georgia and get Ole Miss at home next.
Their wins are over Austin Peay and Delaware. Arkansas has beaten North Alabama and Tulsa.
Neither list is going to scare anybody.
What’s left after Nashville
After Vanderbilt, the Hogs get an open week.
Missouri comes to Fayetteville on Oct. 31. The Razorbacks haven’t beaten the Tigers since 2021.
Next is a Nov. 7 trip to Auburn, which has a new coach in Alex Golesh. Auburn won last year’s game 33-24.
South Carolina visits Nov. 14. The Gamecocks haven’t been on the schedule since 2022, when Arkansas won 44-30.
A trip to Texas follows on Nov. 21.
LSU and new coach Lane Kiffin close the regular season in Fayetteville on Nov. 27. The Tigers have won four straight in that series.
There aren’t many soft spots in that stretch, which makes Oct. 17 matter a little more.
A 6 p.m. kick in a place Arkansas has never lost is a decent setup. The Hogs just have to do something with it.
