by Nate Allen

FAYETTEVILLE -For the first time since 1980, a nationally ranked Arkansas Razorbacks team kicks off a season picking on somebody its own size.

Since Lou Holtz’s preseason No. 6 Razorbacks played college football’s first game of 1980, losing 23-17 to then Southwest Conference rival No. 10 Texas in Austin on Labor Day Night, Arkansas’ next 12 teams preseason-ranked in the Associated Press Top 25  went 12-0 in season openers.  All were against unranked nonconference opponents.

Even the eventual 3-8 hapless Hogs under Jack Crowe, ranked 15th starting 1990, and the 4-8 Hogs under John L. Smith, in the opening game of 2012 ranked 10th, won their season openers.

In Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. ESPN-televised season opener at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Coach Sam Pittman’s 19th-ranked Razorbacks kick off their season against a nonconference foe.

But this one, Coach Luke Fickell’s defending American Athletic Conference champion Cincinnati Bearcats, rank 23rd in the AP poll and outrank the Razorbacks No. 22 to No.  23 in the Coaches poll.

It’s such a premier game compared to those being played by other SEC teams Saturday that, in addition to ESPN, the SEC Network’s SEC Nation and Marty and McGee shows will broadcast from Reynolds Razorback Stadium from 8 a.m to 11 a.m.

“Well, I think it’s a big deal that SEC Nation is here,” Pittman said, “It’s one of three Top 25 matchups.”

The Razorbacks have experienced the urgency throughout preseason camp.

“Opening against a Top 25 team, it should have helped us in the summer, and fall camp understanding that we’re not playing a team that’s way inferior to us,” Pittman said. “We’re playing a team that’s every bit as good as we are.”

Fickell echoes Pittman regarding Arkansas’ preseason effect on Cincinnati.

“It gets you kick-started,” Fickell said. “I think it definitely makes your camp a little bit different.”

How each team fared in 2021 fuels this 2022 season opener.

Pittman's 3-7 debut in the entirely SEC-scheduled 2020 campaign (altered by the covid pandemic) was monumental given the previous two Arkansas teams were 0-8 in the SEC. He guided Arkansas to a stunning 9-4, including 4-4 in the SEC, capped by an Outback Bowl victory over Penn State.

Fickell’s Bearcats ran the regular season and AAC championship table at 13-0, including winning at Notre Dame. They became the first Group of Five school to break the Power Five monopoly on the four-team College Playoff. Cincinnati lost  27-6  to SEC champion Alabama in the Cotton Bowl Playoff semifinal, but in their previous 9-1 season led Georgia 21-10 into the fourth quarter before falling, 24-21 in the Peach Bowl.

“They would do well in the SEC,” Pittman said of the Bearcats. “I know that.”

Cincinnati will get its Power Five chance, joining the Big 12 next year.

In the meantime the Pittman and Fickell's  2021 successes placed each among the five finalists for Coach of the Year.

“I met him at the AFCA banquet where they were giving out the Coach of the Year,” Pittman said. “For whatever reason, I was one of the five guys, and then he won it.”

As Fickell should have, Pittman said.

“Nobody in college football has done what they did,' Pittman said. “So he’s done a great job.”

Good enough to send nine 2021 players to the NFL draft, yet retain such quality, including its entire starting offensive line, to earn a ranking in the Top 25. 

Arkansas returns all but one offensive line starter.

“We know it’s going to be a really physical game,” Pittman said.

Fickell concurred.

“It’s going to be a tough, nasty game, just like the environment’s going to be.” Fickell said.

Primarily because of home field advantage and returning star quarterback KJ Jefferson, the Razorbacks have rated a 5 to 6 points Las Vegas  betting favorite throughout the week.

Cincinnati graduated four-year starting quarterback Desmond Ridder to the NFL but returns two quarterbacks that Fickell knows well even with one a transfer.

Ben Bryant grew frustrated with little time for three years backing up Ridder, transferred to Eastern Michigan last year and starred completing 279 of 408 for a 68.4 percentage and 3,121 yards and returns to Cincinnati as a covid-year-granted Super Senior.

Bryant challenges Ethan Prater, Fickell’s highest recruit ever and last year’s backup to Ridder.

Fickell hasn’t named a starter.

Jefferson and the Hogs sputtered to trail at half before winning last year’s season-opener, 38-17 over underdog Rice.

They can ill afford a sputtering start against Cincinnati, Pittman asserts.

Before the opening game week last year, Pittman continually had to deal with Game 2 questions about Texas and change the subject back to the Rice game at hand.

Even with this year’s Game Two the SEC opener against South Carolina, it’s been all Arkansas vs. Cincinnati.

“This year we know nobody’s said a word about South Carolina,” Pittman said.

That won’t change until after Saturday’s final play.