The Razorbacks’ next road trip comes with a night kickoff in Nashville.
Arkansas will face Vanderbilt on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. CT from FirstBank Stadium, with the game set for ESPN2, the SEC announced Monday. It will be the first meeting between the teams since 2018, when they played in Fayetteville, and the 11th matchup in the all-time series.
Arkansas enters the game with a 7-3 edge in the series, and the Razorbacks have won all four of their previous trips to Vanderbilt. The most recent game at FirstBank Stadium went Arkansas’ way in dramatic fashion, as the Razorbacks erased a second-half deficit and beat the Commodores 31-28. Former linebacker Jerry Franklin helped spark that comeback with a fumble return for a touchdown that cut the lead to two points early in the fourth quarter.
The Razorbacks are 2-3 overall and 0-2 in SEC play under first-year coach Ryan Silverfield, and they are still looking for their first conference win after lopsided losses to Georgia and Texas A&M. Their latest defeat came Saturday at Kyle Field, where Arkansas fell 34-7 to the Aggies.
That loss stretched the Razorbacks’ SEC losing streak to 13 games, dating back to Oct. 26, 2024.
The 2011 meeting in Nashville also turned into a comeback win for Arkansas in Bobby Petrino’s final season as head coach. Vanderbilt had built a 28-17 lead midway through the third quarter before Franklin flipped momentum with a punt return touchdown. On the next possession, Zach Hocker connected on a 42-yard field goal with 6:53 left to give Arkansas its first and only lead of the day.
There was also a tight finish in 2006, when Vanderbilt scored what looked like a game-tying touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Chris Nickson’s two-point conversion try failed, and Arkansas held on for a 21-19 win as part of its 10-game winning streak.
The 2005 game brought a different kind of storyline. Houston Nutt had not yet moved Darren McFadden into a full-time backfield role, and the future two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up had only one carry for six yards. The matchup turned into a quarterback battle, with Robert Johnson going 17-of-28 for 204 yards and two touchdowns, while future No. 1 overall pick and Chicago Bears star Jay Cutler completed 23-of-45 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns in Vanderbilt’s 28-24 win in Fayetteville.
Arkansas returns home this Saturday, Oct. 10, to host No. 15 Tennessee at Razorback Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m. CT, and the game will air nationally on the SEC Network.
In Other News...
Calipari Missing On One Target Could Reveal Arkansas Bigger 2027 Plan
King Gibsons commitment to LSU trimmed one more name from Arkansas early wish list in the class of 2027, but it also underscored how active John Calipari and his staff already are on the recruiting trail. Gibson, a highly regarded combo guard, had been a target for the Razorbacks along with several other programs, and his decision leaves Arkansas to keep pressing forward as the long-range board continues to take shape.
The bigger picture for the Razorbacks is less about one miss than about where Calipari is directing his energy next, with Beckham Black and Demarcus Henry among the names still in play. Henry is expected to choose in early November, and Arkansas pursuit of multiple top targets suggests the staff is trying to build momentum well beyond one recruit, even as the race for 2027 keeps shifting. [Read more 🡒]
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Arkansas Boosters Texas Tech Remark Says Plenty About The NIL Race
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Campbell is the co-CEO of an oil and gas company and chairs the Texas Tech University System board of regents, while Tyson leads Tyson Foods and sits on the Arkansas Systems Board of Trustees. Their names came up in the context of how each has helped support his schools football program, and the remark landed like a reminder that NIL competition is not just about collectives or recruiting pitches. It is also about which programs can tap the strongest networks of influence, money and loyalty when the stakes start climbing. [Read more 🡒]