FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas will host former arch rival Texas while not leaving town until Week 4 during the opening month of the 2021 football season.
The Razorbacks’ schedule under second-year Coach Sam Pittman was released early Wednesday afternoon along with those of the rest of the conference on an SEC Network special.
Half of the Razorbacks’ games were already set, including the season opener Sept. 4 against former Southwest Conference rival Rice, and the SEC opener Sept. 25 against Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas.
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Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said last week the department is planning on having full capacity at football games at this point, meaning the Razorbacks will get to put plenty of fans in the stands at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in September.
The Razorbacks, who went 3-7 against an all-SEC schedule last year, will open with three consecutive home games against Rice, Texas and Georgia Southern before facing Texas A&M in the neutral site series at AT&T Stadium in the Arlington, Texas.
The open date for Arkansas will come in Week 9 on Oct. 30, after the Razorbacks host the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff for the first time on Oct. 23.
After that, the Razorbacks take on a difficult closing stretch that includes back-to-back road games at LSU and Alabama on Nov. 13 and Nov. 20.
The final month begins with a home date against Mississippi State, whom the Razorbacks’ upset 21-14 last season in Starkville, Miss., when the Bulldogs were ranked No. 16 and coming off a major upset of defending national champion LSU.
The schedule concludes with the Thanksgiving weekend finale against Missouri in Little Rock.
Because Arkansas will be the designated home team against the Aggies in Arlington, the Hogs will have only two conference home games — against Auburn on Oct. 16 and against Mississippi State on Nov. 6.
All of the Razorbacks’ true road games will come in two-game bursts. Arkansas will travel to presumptive SEC East favorite Georgia on Oct. 2 and follow that with a road game at Ole Miss the following week.
In November, Arkansas will have the daunting two-week swing at defending CFP champion Alabama and LSU.
SEC Network analyst Chris Doering put the Razorbacks’ schedule in perspective on the SEC Network, saying, “I love the opportunity for some momentum to be continued after Sam Pittman’s first year in Fayetteville,” Doering said. “They surprised me with the way they were able to start last year. Can they improve upon that start in Year 2?”
Arkansas was 3-3 at one point with wins over Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Tennessee before closing the season on a four-game losing streak.
The marquee nonconference game against Texas should be intriguing, with the Longhorns under new Coach Steve Sarkisian after a 7-3 season. The game is the long-awaited return of a two-game series that started in 2008, when the Razorbacks fell 52-10 to the No. 7 Longhorns in Austin, Texas.
The longtime SWC rivals played once since then, with Arkansas thumping the Longhorns 31-7 at the Texas Bowl in Houston after the 2014 season.
2021 Arkansas Football Schedule
Sept. 4: Rice
Sept. 11: Texas
Sept. 18: Georgia Southern
Sept. 25: Texas A&M (in Arlington, Texas)
Oct. 2: at Georgia
Oct. 9: at Ole Miss
Oct. 16: Auburn
Oct. 23: Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Nov. 6: Mississippi State
Nov. 13: at LSU
Nov. 20: at Alabama
Nov. 27: Missouri (in Little Rock)