Razorbacks Can’t Overlook Opener Against Ranked Team

It's been awhile since first game against ranked opponent unlike last season

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The last time Arkansas opened the season against a ranked opponent, well, it didn't work out too well.

It was Labor Day weekend in Austin in 1980, hot as blazes and the defense couldn't stop Texas quarterback Donnie Little on a naked bootleg and the Razorbacks started 0-1 on the way to a 6-5 season.

Now the 19th-ranked Hogs will host No. 23 Cincinnati on Saturday at Razorback Stadium in a get set for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN.

Fan's expectations are off the chart this year.

"They’re high in our building as well," Hogs coach Sam Pittman said in his Monday press conference about opening against a Top 25 team. "Cincinnati's even higher than that."

Last year the Bearcats were in the College Football Playoff. They didn't fare well against Alabama, but Pittman isn't thinking it was a fluke.

"They would do well in the SEC," he said. "It should have helped us in the summer, in fall camp understanding that we’re not playing a team that’s way inferior to us. We’re playing a team that’s every bit as good as we are."

Most fans aren't expecting that.

"People say they lost a lot of players," Pittman said. "Well they played a whole bunch of them last year because they were so far ahead in a lot of their games that they got experience with their other guys. Then they brought in some nice transfers as well."

Last year, the opening game was against Rice and it was probably a little too close for comfort for a long time with fans squirming through the third quarter.

Everybody was looking ahead to Texas in the second game.

"We tried to downplay Texas as much as we could last year and obviously didn't do a very good job of that," Pittman said. "This year we know nobody’s said a word about South Carolina."

He's not looking past the Bearcats.

And it just might be a little closer than a lot of fans are expecting.

HOGS FEED:

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WEEK 0 CREATES POTENTIAL FOR BIG MOVEMENT IN STATE HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS

OPENING WITH A LOSS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC MAKES SCOTT FROST'S SEAT AT NEBRASKA REALLY HOT

AUBURN MAKING NEWS FOR WRONG REASONS, MORE MIKE LEACH GEMS

THREE GAMES WORTH OF HOGS FANS' INTEREST IN WEEK 0

WHO GETS STARTING NOD AT CORNER WON'T HAVE MAJOR IMPACT

HOGS CHANGE WEEKEND PRACTICE SCRIPT TO GET AN EXTRA 24 HOURS FOR SOME WALKING WOUNDED

NASCAR GOING ALL IN SPONSORING ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE SPORTS

JEFFERSON SHOULD HAVE HOGS HIGHER THAN AGGIES THIS YEAR

FORMER RAZORBACKS' LINEBACKER GRANT MORGAN MANAGES TO AVOID ANOTHER CUT DAY WITH NFL TEAM

CRAWFORD DROPS HEALTHY 3RD GRADER IN WEIGHT FOR 2022 SEASON

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