In 2024, Arkansas and the rest of the SEC will play an eight-game conference schedule as a part of a “bridge” schedule for Texas and Oklahoma’s first season in the conference.
It will be the second time a one-year temporary schedule will be used to allow for more time to mull over the schedule structure for future members, as the same happened when Texas A&M and Missouri joined in 2012.
Dating back to 1992, SEC schedules have changed form four times with various models used and mixed results.
Before 1992
For the 1991 season, each SEC team used the 4-7 model with four non-conference games and seven conference opponents. Most teams then played three current-day non-power five teams and one power five team for the non-conference slate.
1992
When Arkansas and South Carolina joined the conference, the SEC shifted to a 3-5-3 model, and with that came the birth of the West and East Divisions. The number of conference games also jumped from seven to eight.
In 1992, Arkansas played three non-conference opponents, its five division members, and three teams from the East division. Each team had two cross-division opponents that they would have to play yearly for the next decade. Arkansas was given South Carolina and Tennessee.
That year, Arkansas played a game against Georgia along with South Carolina and Tennessee. All three of Arkansas’ wins came against their new SEC competition, the Gamecocks, Volunteers and LSU in a season filled with losses to the Citadel, Memphis State and SMU.
2002
The NCAA announced that teams would be allowed to schedule 12 games. For the SEC, that meant adding another non-conference game (most teams used that extra game for an FCS opponent), and the 4-5-3 model was created with four non-conference games, five SEC West opponents and three games from the East division.
It also meant the end of having two-cross division opponents. Tennessee would no longer be one of Arkansas’ yearly opponents and the Razorbacks would play two East Division opponents on rotation.
2012
Texas A&M and Missouri were added to the SEC a decade later, forcing the league to shift to another model. The 4-6-2 model was made to allow teams to play every team in their division, four non-conference games and just two from the other division.
It was also announced that South Carolina and Arkansas would change cross-division opponents after the 2013 season to allow Arkansas and Missouri to play yearly.
For 2012 and 2013, it was decided that Arkansas and Texas A&M would leave AT&T Stadium for those seasons and do a home-and-home before continuing the remaining 11 years of their contract to play in Arlington, Texas.
2020
Eight years later, the SEC played a 10-game all-SEC schedule during the pandemic following suit of most conferences to still play a season.
Teams played the eight SEC games already on their schedule plus two more conference games against teams from the other division (one home and one away). For Arkansas, that meant adding the top two teams in the East for games at Florida and at home against Georgia.
According to Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek, Arkansas was awarded “the most challenging schedule in the history of college football.”
2024
For 2024, the schedules will look similar to the 2023 schedules with one change, Oklahoma and Texas being added.
Arkansas fans were pleasantly surprised with the upcoming opponents, as the Hogs were given home games against Texas, Tennessee, LSU and Ole Miss to go with road games at Mississippi State, Missouri, Auburn and Texas A&M (to be played in Arlington to finish the contract). There is no Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia or Florida on the schedule, much to Arkansas fans’ delight.
Beyond 2024, that’s still up for debate on whether it will be an eight-game or nine-game conference schedule moving forward.
