During the global health pandemic colleges have shut down sports but former Razorback Jake Bequette can’t see the logic behind that decision.
Murphy on Hogs starting with Georgia, finally getting schedule completed
Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said on The Morning Rush he’s glad the schedule is done with Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs coming to town.
Chavenelle on offensive line coming together, Hogs back to practices
HawgBeat’s Nikki Chavanelle says there’s some talent coming back for Sam Pittman and Hogs to work with on offensive line this season.
Former Razorback Jake Bequette joins The Morning Rush
Former Razorback defensive end Jake Bequette joins The Morning Rush! Bequette discusses his time with Razorbacks and Patriots, his new position currently serving as a 1st Lieutenant in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, the current state of CFB, and more! Check it out now!
Pittman on first fall camp practice as head coach Monday as Hogs get started
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman talked with the media after completing his first real practice Monday afternoon as a head coach.
Pool on defense ‘ahead of last year’ after first fall practice under Pittman Monday
Razorbacks linebacker Bumper Pool talked after Monday’s opening fall camp practice about how virtual meetings helped team be prepared.
Boyd on development of running backs behind him, how offense looks
Hogs running back Rakeem Boyd likes the youngsters behind him and Feleipe Franks looks like an guy with experience running the offense on first day.
Interesting revised schedule lineup for Hogs provides some opportunities
Arkansas kicks off the Sam Pittman era at home inside Razorback Stadium on Sept. 26 against a familiar foe for the new head Hog.
The storyline will be Pittman going up against the No. 4 Bulldogs that he coached on the offensive line for the last four years, but the rest of the schedule provides even a little more intrigue.
Mixed around that opener and facing Auburn with former head coach Chad Morris and the annual Gus Malzahn drama will be games with Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
Of course the games in the middle count, too, and there is another program with a new coach in Missouri the Hogs play the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Then Alabama comes to Fayetteville to wrap things up. By then who knows what will be happening but it was the safest thing for the league to do in terms of interest for games that could be cancelled with the global pandemic.
For the first time since 2009, Georgia comes to Fayetteville, the first of six teams ranked in the Coaches’ preseason poll on the Razorbacks’ schedule.
The Hogs will hit the road for a pair of games following the opener, visiting Mississippi State (Oct. 3) and No. 11 Auburn (October 10) before returning home to face Ole Miss (Oct. 17). After four games, Arkansas enters the bye week Oct. 24 before taking off for No. 13 Texas A&M and visiting College Station for the first time since 2012 on Halloween.
Tennessee visits Fayetteville on Nov. 7 in the Volunteers’ first trip to Arkansas since 2011. The Hogs take on a pair of preseason Top 10 teams in back-to-back weeks with a visit to The Swamp and No. 8 Florida on Nov. 14 then return home to take on defending national champion and No. 5 LSU on Nov. 21.
Arkansas’ final road game of the season comes at Missouri on Nov. 28 but the game against the Tigers will not be the regular season finale for the first time since 2013.
The Hogs instead will end the regular season the following week in Fayetteville against No. 3 Alabama.
Dates and TV network designations will be announced at a later date by the Southeastern Conference.
Date – Opponent – Place
Sept. 26 – No. 4 Georgia – Fayetteville, Ark.
Oct. 3 – at Mississippi State – Starkville, Miss.
Oct. 10 – at No. 11 Auburn – Auburn, Ala.
Oct. 17 – Ole Miss – Fayetteville, Ark.
Oct. 24 – OPEN
Oct. 31 – at No. 13 Texas A&M – College Station, Texas
Nov. 7 – Tennessee – Fayetteville, Ark.
Nov. 14 – at No. 8 Florida – Gainesville, Fla.
Nov. 21 – No. 5 LSU – Fayetteville, Ark.
Nov. 28 – at Missouri – Columbia, Mo.
Dec. 5 – No. 3 Alabama – Fayetteville, Ark.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
All four new league coaches will start against best in first seasons
Every new coach that comes into the SEC says they want to be in the league because they want to play the best. … and Sam Pittman has said it repeatedly.
He’s not alone. Publicly that’s what they all say.
But the four new guys this year didn’t expect to be playing Top 10 teams in the first week and that wasn’t the plan, but the coronavirus has caused a wholesale change across just about everything in college sports.
When the league announced the opening games of the new schedule on Monday afternoon, Pittman, Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, Mississippi State’s Mike Leach and Missouri’s Eli Drinkwich all got teams at the top.
The league didn’t hand out many favorites in the opening weekend of games. The lack of transparency on choosing cross-divisional opponents last week was ridiculous.
Opening week, though, is clear as a bell. The league wanted to showcase the top teams in the league against the new coaches.
As I suspected when all of this got tossed up in the air a couple of months ago, one of the best storylines for an opening week matchup was putting Georgia against Arkansas.
Pittman may not have more insight on any one team in the league than the Bulldogs. He was Kirby Smart’s right-hand man the last four years.
Georgia is ranked No. 4 in the coaches preseason poll.
Missouri gets Alabama, ranked No. 3.
Leach and the Bulldogs go to Tiger Stadium for what will likely be a night-time celebration for No. 5 LSU after a national title run last year.
Ole Miss hosts No. 8 Florida that reportedly is having internal issues kicking off fall camp Monday. According to a report at Sports Illustrated, several players were holding out of the first day of drills, and it was confirmed by coach Dan Mullen.
And the Rebels, at least on paper, get the best matchup.
None of the four new coaches in the league will start off with an opponent below eighth and three are playing Top 5 teams.
Welcome to the league, guys.
Remember, though, that’s why you wanted to be here.
ON HALFTIME: O’Garra on lack of interest in any kind of parity in college sports
Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara talked with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis on ESPN Arkansas on how pro sports encourage parity, but college sports seems to fight it.
