Arkansas is headed into one of the latest starts in program history when it takes on No. 20 Utah on Saturday night, with kickoff set for roughly 9:25 p.m. CT in Salt Lake City.
That start time ties the latest kickoff the Razorbacks have ever had, matching the 2005 trip to USC. The comparison isn’t exactly comforting for Arkansas fans.
Back then, Houston Nutt’s team ran into a loaded Trojans squad led by Heisman winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, and USC rolled to a 70-17 win that didn’t wrap up until 12:44 a.m. CT.
This time, the opponent isn’t USC, but the challenge still looks steep. Utah opened its season by beating Idaho 66-14 and piled up 633 total yards in the process, including 364 on the ground. Arkansas, meanwhile, is trying to bounce back from a Week 1 win over North Alabama that never fully looked comfortable, with the Razorbacks stuck at 14 points until well into the third quarter.
The matchup also brings a first for both programs: Arkansas and Utah have never played before. And the setting only adds to the difficulty. Rice-Eccles Stadium has been a tough place to win for a long time, with Utah going 125-42 there since the stadium opened in 1998.
For Ryan Silverfield, this is a rough way to begin life on the road as Arkansas’ head coach. The Razorbacks will lean heavily on quarterback KJ Jackson after his uneven opener, when he threw three touchdowns but also had one interception and one lost fumble. Arkansas’ offense as a whole has work to do, too, after averaging just 3.0 yards per carry in its season opener.
There’s more than just a late-night kickoff on the line. Arkansas has not beaten a ranked non-conference opponent on the road since its 41-38 double-overtime win at No.
15 TCU in 2016. Ten years later, the Razorbacks have a shot to end that drought in a game that will already go down as one of the latest starts in school history.
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