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Razorback football 2026 kickoff windows set for Silverfield’s debut season
The SEC didn’t keep Razorback fans waiting too long.
On Wednesday night, the league held its “Inside the 2026 Football Schedule” presentation and revealed kickoff time windows for all 16 member schools, including a full look at what Arkansas fans can expect when Ryan Silverfield’s debut season kicks off this fall.
Fans already knew the times for the first three games, but Wednesday’s announcement filled in the picture with window designations for the rest of the schedule and locked in the Week 4 kickoff time against Tulsa.
The Razorbacks open on Sept. 5 against North Alabama at 3:15 p.m. on the SEC Network. It’s the first-ever meeting between the two programs, and it gives Silverfield a manageable early test before things get complicated in a hurry.
The following week, Arkansas heads to Salt Lake City to face Utah on Sept. 12 at 9:15 p.m. on ESPN. It’ll be the first time these programs have ever met on the football field.
It’s also the third time in five years the Hogs will travel to face a Big 12 opponent on the road, following trips to BYU in 2022 and Oklahoma State in 2024.
A week later, Georgia comes to Fayetteville for an 11 a.m. kickoff on Sept. 19, carried nationally on ABC.
It’s the first time the two programs have shared the field since 2020, when the Bulldogs won 37-10 in the season opener. Arkansas will want a different result this time around.
The Sept. 26 home game against Tulsa is set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network+, making it the only game on the schedule to carry that particular network designation.
Five straight games assigned flex windows
Five of the next six games on the schedule — along with the Military Appreciation home matchup against South Carolina — carry a “FLEX” window designation, meaning exact times won’t be confirmed until six to 12 days before kickoff.
That window runs from 2:30 to 7 p.m..
That stretch starts Oct. 3 at Texas A&M and includes home games against Tennessee on Oct. 10 and Missouri on Oct. 31, as well as a road trip to Vanderbilt on Oct. 17. The bye week falls on Oct. 24.
The Missouri game on Halloween carries some extra context this year. It’s the Battle Line Rivalry, and for the first time since Missouri joined the SEC, the game won’t be played as the regular-season finale.
Moving it to Week 9 is a notable scheduling shift for a rivalry that had become synonymous with late-November college football.
After hosting South Carolina on Nov. 14 — also in the flex window — the Hogs travel to Austin for the second straight year to face Texas on Nov. 21. That game falls in the “AFTERNOON” window, slotted between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m..
The regular season closes at home Nov. 28 against LSU. The Battle of the Golden Boot returns to its traditional place as the final regular-season game and sits in the “EARLY” window, which runs from 11 a.m. to noon. The Nov. 7 road game at Auburn carries that same early designation.
Razorback fans now have enough information to start circling dates on the calendar, even if exact times for several key SEC matchups are still a few months away from being confirmed.
Davion Thompson commits to Arkansas basketball as John Calipari’s fifth five-star
Davion Thompson chose the Razorbacks on Wednesday night, and John Calipari’s pitch clearly landed.
The 6-2, 185-pound point guard from Link Academy in Branson, Missouri made his announcement live on CBS Sports and 247Sports, picking Arkansas over a final four that also included Michigan, Vanderbilt and Baylor.
The Bolingbrook, Illinois native is rated the No. 21 overall player and No. 5 point guard in the 2027 class by 247Sports, with a composite score of 0.9916, putting him 12th among the highest-rated Razorback commits in the modern era, just a tick ahead of Bobby Portis.
Thompson told Rivals that the culture and Calipari’s track record with guards were the deciding factors.
“He has a lot of guards that come through, and he puts them in the NBA and in the best position to chase their dreams,” Thompson said. He also pointed to the consistency of the staff’s recruitment. “They’ve been on me since I was a sophomore or junior, so I have a good relationship with them. I like the visit when I went up there. Everything was good.”
The path to this commitment started building over several months.
Thompson visited Fayetteville twice during the past season, once for an exhibition game against Cincinnati and again for the non-conference finale against James Madison.
Calipari goes the distance for Thompson
The recruiting push reached another level when Calipari flew to Leon, Mexico in early June to watch Thompson compete in the FIBA U18 AmeriCup, according to 247Sports.
Calipari was reportedly the only college coach in attendance for that event. Team USA beat Argentina 88-58 in group play, and Thompson scored 11 points off the bench.
The Hogs moved to the front of the pack for Thompson’s commitment shortly after that trip.
Thompson’s Team USA run ended on a tough note Monday when he played 14 minutes in the gold medal game against Canada.
He finished with 5 points on 2-of-4 shooting, including one three-pointer, but Team USA fell 67-65 and settled for silver.
The numbers Thompson has put together on the grassroots circuit explain why Calipari made the cross-border trip. On the Nike EYBL circuit with his Meanstreets squad,
Thompson has averaged 21.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game while shooting nearly 52% from three-point range on close to eight attempts per contest.
247Sports recruiting analyst Adam Finkelstein called Thompson’s Session II performance in Memphis a shotmaking clinic, noting that he “dictated his own pace off the dribble, was highly proficient changing speeds, showed great footwork at the end of his drive to create separation and used the threat of his jumper to get into the lane.”
Thompson was the second-leading scorer in the field that weekend at 26.3 points per game while shooting 50% from the floor and 54% from deep.
Thompson fills a key backcourt vacancy
The timing of Thompson’s commitment isn’t a coincidence. Arkansas lost Meleek Thomas to the NBA Draft last month, which created an opening in the backcourt rotation that needed to be addressed.
The Hogs didn’t wait long to identify Thompson as the answer.
Though Thompson is technically in the 2027 class, sources close to the program told HawgSports there’s still an expectation he’ll reclassify to 2026 and join the team in August.
Thompson didn’t address the reclassification question during his announcement.
His commitment makes him the fifth five-star prospect Calipari has secured since the 2026 cycle began.
He joins Jordan Smith Jr., Abdou Toure, JJ Andrews and Miikka Muurinen in what’s shaping up to be a loaded incoming group for Calipari in Fayetteville.
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