Arkansas announces start times, television times for three games

It might not feel like it just yet, but college football is only a few short months away. In anticipation of the 2022-23 college football season, the Arkansas Razorbacks revealed the start times and television times for their first three games of the season on Thursday: Sept. 3 vs. Cincinnati, Sept. 10 vs. South Carolina and Sept. 17 vs. Missouri State.

Arkansas returns plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball and it all starts with the straw that stirs the drink for the Hogs, quarterback K.J. Jefferson. The team will go as far as Jefferson can take them and the good news for Razorbacks faithful is he’s one of the most dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks in all of college football. He’ll be helped immensely by an Arkansas offensive line that returns four veteran starters along their offensive line.

Arkansas kicks off its campaign against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sept. 3 at 3:30 p.m. EST. That one will be nationally televised on ESPN. The Bearcats enjoyed one of the best year’s in their program’s history last season–they enjoyed a 13-1 season and punched their tickets to the College Football Playoff. They got throttled by Alabama in the Cotton Bowl, but it was still a historic season for the Bearcats. Head coach Luke Fickell is still the head honcho for Cincinnati and he’s one of the best in the country, but plenty of questions remain, specifcally how the Bearcats will replace Desmond Ridder — who was drafted in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons.

Next up for Arkansas on Sept. 10 are the South Carolina Gamecocks, led by one of college football’s rising stars in the coaching profession, Shane Beamer. This game is set for 12:00 p.m. EST and will be televised nationally on ESPN. The Gamecocks dipped into the transfer portal this offseason and landed one of the game’s more polarizing quarterbacks, former Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler. Arkansas is far from a one-man show on offense and the Gamecocks will have a number of speedy Hogs’ running backs to deal with: Dominique Johnson, Raheim “Rocket” Sanders and AJ Green.

The third game of the will be against Missouri State. That one will be played on Sept. 17 and will be televised on ESPN+. Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM EST. For more in-depth analysis on the Hogs heading into the 2022-2023 season, check out On3’s Jesse Simonton’s post spring stock report.