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Information Overload: Breaking down Arkansas' 2017 schedule

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Bret Bielema is entering his fifth season at Arkansas.
Bret Bielema is entering his fifth season at Arkansas. (Trey Biddy)

With Arkansas' season opener just over a week away, there's still time for a big-picture view of the schedule before locking in your final win-loss prediction.

Here's a bunch of history, numbers and intangibles to consider for each game:

August 31 | vs. Florida A&M (Little Rock)

Bret Bielema is 10-1 in season openers with his only loss coming at Auburn to kick off Arkansas' 2014 season. His teams are also 9-0 against FCS opponents with an average score of 50-17.

There have been some scares against FCS opponents, however.

Wisconsin's final regular season game in 2008 was against a Cal-Poly team that won the Great West Conference and entered the game with an 8-1 record. Bielema's Badgers trailed 20-7 at one point and needed a 2-point conversion to force overtime. Cal-Poly missed three extra points on the day including one in OT that allowed Wisconsin to escape with a 36-35 win.

Four years later, in 2012, Wisconsin barely squeaked out a 26-21 win in its season opener against Northern Iowa. The Badgers needed a batted-down pass on 4th-and-1 to clinch the victory.

The following year, in Bielema's second game as Arkansas' coach, the Razorbacks trailed Samford 21-17 entering the fourth quarter but punched in two touchdowns to seal the victory in Little Rock.

On the bright side, Arkansas has won its last 10 home openers by an average of 29 points per game, and the Hogs will be facing a FAMU team that lost 70-3 to Miami (Fla.) and 49-10 to Coastal Carolina a year ago.

The game shouldn't be close as long as Arkansas doesn't get caught looking ahead to its big showdown in Week 2.


Sept. 9 vs. TCU 

The Razorbacks opening on a Thursday means they'll have at least an extra day or two to start getting ready for TCU, a team that is expected to be much improved this fall.

The Horned Frogs, who have only won three games in their last 34 tries against Arkansas, also open against a FCS program in Jackson State.

Arkansas has won eight of its last nine against Big 12 teams (including three against Texas A&M prior to the Aggies joining the SEC in 2012). Ironically, the Hogs' lone loss in that stretch came in the only game played in Fayetteville (vs. Texas Tech in 2015). The eight victories came on the road, in bowl games or at neutral site Cowboys Stadium against A&M.

Bielema has gone 5-6 against the first Power-5 teams on his schedule. TCU coach Gary Patterson is 11-5 against the first Power-5 teams he's faced each year since 2001.

The week after these two teams meet in Fayetteville, the Razorbacks get a bye while TCU will welcome SMU to Fort Worth. Neither team will be overlooking the opponent in this one.


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