As the upcoming football season closes in, the University of Arkansas Razorbacks will now have an increasingly challenging slate of opponents to face.
On Friday, Aug. 7, the SEC released the names of the two previously-unannounced teams that each football program will face during the 10-game conference-only season. While each team typically faces off with one cross-division team and a rotating cross-division team each year, teams will now face for two more rotating cross-division adversaries.
“We made every effort to create a schedule that is as competitive as possible and builds on the existing eight Conference games that had already been scheduled for 2020,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. “This schedule is a one-year anomaly that we have developed under unique circumstances presented by the impact of COVID-19.”
Arkansas will be facing Georgia and Florida as the rotating non-divisional opponents. Tennessee was previously announced as the Razorbacks’ cross-division opponent in a game to be played in Missouri.
Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek released a statement, acknowledging the challenge that the two opponents pose for the Razorbacks. In the statement, he called the team’s schedule “the most challenging schedule in the history of college football” but that the Razorbacks were looking forward to the challenge.
“We already owned the nation’s strongest 2020 football schedule and with these additions to our SEC only schedule, we now own the most challenging schedule in the history of college football. As Razorbacks, we have never backed down from a challenge, this year will be no different. Our focus remains on the growth of our program and supporting Coach Sam Pittman and our football student-athletes as they embrace this extraordinary opportunity,” he said.
Arkansas kicks off its football season against Mississippi State University on Saturday, Sept. 19 at Starkville.
READ MORE: It’s Official – SEC Announces 10-Game, Conference-Only Schedule
