Many eyes of the college football world will be watching Arkansas’ season opener against Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon, as the matchup is one of three games on opening weekend that feature ranked teams battling one another.
For No. 19 Arkansas, a program on the rise, playing a program like No. 23 Cincinnati to open the season at home is taking a step in the right direction for the maturation of the brand.
“I think it’s a big deal that SEC Nation is here. One of three Top-25 matchups. We’re on ESPN. Yeah, you want that for the program, the publicity for the program,” head coach Sam Pittman said in his Monday press conference.
Arkansas’ season-opening opponent is the Cincinnati Bearcats. Despite playing in a group-of-five league in the American Athletic Conference, they have played in two straight New Year’s Six Bowls against SEC teams. Most recently, the Bearcats faced Alabama in the Cotton Bowl, becoming the first non-Power Five program to compete in the College Football Playoff.
Pittman says that he likes the test that Cincinnati provides to open the season because it has helped his team practice with purpose.
“I think opening up against a Top-25 program, which I think Cincinnati is higher than that even. (Cincinnati) would do well in the SEC,” Pittman said. “It should have helped us in the summer, helped us in fall camp understanding we’re not playing a team that’s way inferior to us. We’re playing a team that’s as good as we are. I think it’s helped us.”
Arkansas’ top-25 season opener against Cincinnati is the first top-25 battle to open the season for the Razorbacks since they kicked off the 1980 season at Texas. The No. 6 Razorbacks fell to the No. 10 Longhorns, 23-17.
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