SEC Nation will open 2022 season in Fayetteville for opener

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Sam Pittman hopes history repeats itself.

At least last year’s success with the SEC Nation pregame show coming to Fayetteville for the season opener against Cincinnati at Razorback Stadium.

The game will kick off at 2:30 p.m., but the pregame show gets under way at 9 a.m. and wraps with Paul Finebaum picking a team to win.

He did that last September when the show was in town for the Razorbacks’ game with Texas and he picked a Hogs’ helmet to end the show on a high note.

The SEC Network’s Laura Rutledge, host of SEC Nation, announced the show’s Week 1 venue live with Pittman on set of SEC Now following his first two media sessions

Pittman remembers.

“Get one of those hats and let Paul throw it,” he said on the air.

Pittman did get a chance to visit with Bearcats coach Luke Fickell at the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) convention earlier this year.

“He’s a driven guy,” Pittman said about Fickell, who was a high school wrestler. “Like I say, wrestlers are different, now. Those high school, college wrestlers … so I know he’s going to have them ready to go.”

Cincinnati finished 13-1 last season and was the first Group of Five program to make the College Football Playoffs.

They were defeated by Alabama, 27-6, after rolling through the American Athletic Conference. They also beat Notre Dame in South Bend (Ind.), in Week 5, 24-13.

Now fans have something that will get the crowd to the stadium early.