FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will add Georgia and Florida from the SEC East to its 2020 football schedule, but the Razorbacks are still awaiting their finalized schedule from the conference office.
The Razorbacks’ game against Georgia is scheduled to be played at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, and its game against Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.
Arkansas also has home games scheduled against Alabama, LSU, Tennessee and Ole Miss, and road games scheduled at Mississippi State and Auburn this season. It is expected the Razorbacks' games against Texas A&M and Missouri will also be true road games. Those games are currently scheduled to be played in NFL stadiums.
Dates are not known for any of Arkansas' 10 games.
Georgia, the three-time defending SEC East champion, is ranked No. 4 in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll, while Florida is ranked No. 8. The poll also includes Alabama (3), LSU (5), Auburn (11) and Texas A&M (13).
"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,” Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek wrote Friday.
The game against Georgia will pit new Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman against his former boss, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart. Pittman was Smart’s offensive line coach for four seasons before he was hired by the Razorbacks last December.
“They have an incredible fan base,” Pittman said Thursday when asked his thoughts on potentially playing Georgia. “If they came here and allowed (it, their fans) will be traveling in. I am going to tell the Arkansas fans sell that thing out because if not it will be loaded with Georgia fans.
"I have fond memories of Georgia. They were good to me - the entire state and of course Kirby Smart.”
It is unclear whether fans will be allowed at games this year. Yurachek said last month he was planning for around 25 percent capacity at the 76,412-seat stadium in Fayetteville.
The Razorbacks are winless in five games against Georgia inside the state of Arkansas, including 0-4 in games played in Fayetteville.
Arkansas last played Georgia in 2014, a 45-32 victory by the Bulldogs in Little Rock when Pittman was the Razorbacks’ offensive line coach. The teams are scheduled to play next season at Georgia.
Arkansas has not played Florida since 2016, when the Razorbacks upset the No. 10 Gators 31-10 in Fayetteville. Arkansas has not played a game in Gainesville since 2013 and is winless in four games there all time.
Former Florida starting quarterback Feleipe Franks transferred to Arkansas during the offseason as a graduate transfer. Franks led the Gators to a 10-3 record and No. 6 final ranking in 2018. He was the team's starting quarterback last year before suffering a season-ending injury in the third game.
Pittman said Thursday that Franks has not been named Arkansas' starting quarterback, but praised his work this offseason. In addition to Franks, the Razorbacks have three quarterbacks who started a game apiece last year.
Although the 2020 schedule is set, there are still questions whether the season will be played. The SEC has barred all fall sports teams from any competition through at least the end of August, and said it will reevaluate whether it is safe to play at that time.
On Tuesday the SEC announced it was postponing the date football teams could begin preseason practice from Aug. 7 to Aug. 17. Teams will be permitted to practice 25 times prior to the start of the season, including 21 times in full pads.
The Razorbacks were not able to conduct any spring practices prior to the college sports shutdown in March. Pittman's only on-field time with the team has been walkthrough practices that began July 24 and concluded Thursday.
Arkansas’ all-conference schedule comes at a time when the program has consistently been beaten up by SEC teams. The Razorbacks have not won a conference game since rallying from a 24-point deficit to defeat Ole Miss 38-37 on Oct. 28, 2017.
Since then Arkansas has lost 19 straight SEC games, including nine games by at least 23 points.