Arkansas moves kickoff for opener vs. Western Carolina up to noon

Arkansas will officially kick off their upcoming season with most of the rest of the teams across the country on Saturday. However, the Razorbacks are going to get an earlier start than originally planned.

According to the ‘Hogs, their opener against Western Carolina has been moved up a few hours. After originally being scheduled to play at 4 p.m. EST, kickoff from Little Rock will now be at noon against the Catamounts.

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We get to play football sooner! Kickoff moved up to NOON for Saturday's season opener vs. Western Carolina. pic.twitter.com/MSgEzYBPa6

— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) August 28, 2023

This will be the first-ever meeting between Arkansas and Western Carolina. It’s also of note that they will be facing off in War Memorial Stadium rather than Razorback Stadium back in Fayetteville.

The expectation is that the ‘Hogs will handle their business this weekend against their FCS opponent in WCU, regardless of the kickoff time. ESPN’s FPI has Arkansas’ chances of winning at 99%. There isn’t a point spread available for the matchup yet but you’d anticipate that it would heavily favor the Razorbacks as well.

The offseason is a long wait for every fan in college football. For Arkansas fans, though, their wait is going to end a little earlier than they planned with this decision regarding their kickoff.

Rece Davis predicts Arkansas under 6.5 wins in 2023

Arkansas enters 2023 with an over/under of 6.5 wins according to the oddsmakers in Las Vegas. The Razorbacks fell just short of that mark this past season with a 6-6 regular season record before winning the Liberty Bowl, though injuries certainly played a factor.

QB KJ Jefferson and RB Raheim ‘Rocket’ Sanders both return to give Arkansas a chance at improvement this season. However, ESPN’s Rece Davis doesn’t see them being enough to get the team to seven victories, citing questions about the offensive line and secondary as he predicted the Razorbacks to finish under the 6.5 mark.

“I’m gonna go under there. Despite the two stars and the experience at quarterback? The offensive line problems concern me,” Davis said on the College GameDay podcast. “How poor they were in pass defense concerns me. They had a bunch of sacks last year but they lost a number of the guys. So I’m gonna go under there, even though I do understand the fact that they are capable of pulling an upset when you have two stars like KJ Jefferson and Rocket Sanders.”

ESPN’s Football Power Index recently predicted the Razorbacks to go 6.9-5.1 this season. Based on that, it seems they very well still could reach the over. To do so, a pair of games against Texas A&M and Ole Miss will prove critical.