Sign up for an annual HawgBeat subscription and get $50 for Arkansas gear on the Rivals Fan Shop ––> details
College Students, get a year of HawgBeat coverage for just $11.95. Request details via email from your school account (.edu) to nchavanelle@yahoo.com.
On Monday, Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek joined an ever-growing list of ADs and commissioners who have publicly said they plan or intend to have college football this fall.
Those words need to be emphasized because things could change between now and Sept. 5, but it’s okay to take a moment to be optimistic.
One reason Arkansas fans in particular should be hopeful is because of the second game of the season - a road trip to Notre Dame.
Coming off back-to-back 2-10 seasons and a coaching change this offseason, the Razorbacks aren’t expected to go into South Bend, Ind., and beat the Fighting Irish - who have won 10-plus games each of the last three season - but it is a unique matchup.
In fact, this is supposed to be the first time Arkansas has ever played the storied program that has produced more consensus All-Americans, College Football Hall of Famers and Pro Football Hall of Famers than any other college football program. Making the trip to 90-year-old Notre Dame Stadium is likely on most college football fans’ bucket lists.
Even if the Power Five conference don't play a full 12-game slate, Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick told reporters Monday he is hopeful they opt for a "conference plus one" schedule rather than just conference-only.
That would preserve traditional rivalries like Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Kentucky-Louisville and South Carolina-Clemson, as well as enable Arkansas and other schools to play Notre Dame, an independent.
"You protect those and build your schedule around conferences," Swarbrick said. "We would love Wisconsin to still be able to play Notre Dame at Lambeau Field or Arkansas to still visit. We’ll have to see how that evolves."
Notre Dame is scheduled to come to Fayetteville for the return game of the home-and-home series in 2025.
The year after that, Arkansas will begin a home-and-home series with another Power Five team it has never faced, as it travels to Utah in 2026. The Razorbacks welcome the Utes to Fayetteville two years later, in 2028.
After those two home-and-home series are played, Arkansas will have faced 43 of the 65 current Power Five programs at least once during its history.
That of course includes the other 13 SEC teams, as well as all but one Big 12 team, half of the Pac-12 and a handful of Big Ten and ACC schools. Below is a list of all 22 Power Five programs the Razorbacks have yet to play or schedule in football.
Which of these teams would you like to see Arkansas play next? Join the conversation on The Trough, our premium message board.
ACC (9)
~Boston College
~Clemson
~Florida State
~Louisville
~North Carolina State
~Pitt
~Syracuse
~Virginia
~Wake Forest
Big 12 (1)
~West Virginia
Big Ten (6)
~Illinois
~Indiana
~Maryland
~Michigan State
~Penn State
~Purdue
Pac-12 (6)
~Arizona
~Colorado
~Oregon
~Oregon State
~Washington
~Washington State
