FAYETTEVILLE -- Usually when two nationally-ranked teams play at one of their home stadiums, there's a return game for the visitor.
That's not the case with the No. 19 Arkansas Razorbacks' 31-24 victory over No. 23 Cincinnati in Saturday's season opener.
It was a one-game agreement, with Cincinnati playing at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in exchange for a guarantee of $1.5 million according to The Athletic.
Playing the Bearcats once was enough for University of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman.
"Am I tickled to death that we're 1-0 and we beat Cincinnati? Yes," Pittman said. "I don't want to play them."
"We've already played them once, that's plenty, and we'll move on to South Carolina."
Arkansas opens SEC play Saturday against South Carolina, which beat Georgia State 35-14 in its opener after coming off a 7-6 record.
Cincinnati is one of five teams on Arkansas' schedule in the preseason Associated Press poll along with No. 1 Alabama, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 21 Ole Miss and No. 25 Brigham Young.
All 11 of the Razorbacks' FBS opponents were in bowls last season and Missouri State made the FCS playoffs and is ranked No. 8 in the coaches' poll.
"The schedule is the hardest schedule in football," Pittman said. "You've just got to try to be 1-0 and then next week 2-0.
"So to get that one out of the way with a win was really nice. The great thing, I told the kids after the game, we have a lot to clean up, but we are 1-0."
It was Arkansas' fifth victory over a ranked team in 24 games under Pittman.
Thirteen of Pittman's 24 games as the Razorbacks' coach have been against ranked teams, including four against back-to-back national champions Alabama and Georgia, with Arkansas 5-8 in those matchups.
Cincinnati is among four teams in the AP poll Arkansas has beaten under Pittman along with winning 21-14 at No. 16 Mississippi State in 2020 -- which broke the Razorbacks' SEC losing streak at 20 games -- and last season having victories over No. 15 Texas 40-21 at home and over No. 7 Texas A&M 20-10 in Arlington, Texas.
The Razorbacks also beat Mississippi State 31-28 at home last season when the Bulldogs were ranked No. 17 in the College Football Playoff poll.
Prior to 2020, Arkansas hadn't beaten a ranked team since 2016 when the Razorbacks got their only regular-season victory over Florida, 31-10, when the Gators were No. 11 and played at Fayetteville.
Arkansas lost 16 consecutive games against ranked teams before winning at Mississippi State in 2020 in Pittman's second game as coach.
"I mean, it's kind of a different feeling," Razorbacks fifth-year senior linebacker Bumper Pool said of beating a ranked team and taking it in stride. "In the past, a win would have meant the world.
"But for us, it's like we've got so much to work on, and we're building for something greater. We're very happy with the win, but we're going to continue to work and continue to try to get better."
Safety Simeon Blair is a fifth-year senior who like Pool endured the 2018 and 2019 seasons when the Razorbacks were a combined 4-20 overall and 0-16 in SEC play with Chad Morris for the first 22 games with Barry Lunney Jr. serving as interim coach for the last two.
"We feel like we can play with anybody in this conference, anybody in the world," Blair said. "So I feel like [beating Cincinnati] was really a learning experience.
"We played a good game. We're excited about the win, but we know we can be so much better than what we showed."
When Arkansas beat Texas last season, fans stormed the field.
On Saturday, the Razorbacks were favored to beat the Bearcats and covered the 6 1/2-point spread. The crowd of 74,751 was raucous the entire game, but there was never the threat of fans storming the field in celebration.
Arkansas was the underdog in three of its five victories over ranked teams under Pittman.
"It's a good feeling not to really 'upset' people any more," said senior tight end Trey Knox, who caught two touchdown passes. "We're in games and we can play with everybody.
"We expect to win every game and our fans expect us to win every game. That's what we like to see.
"We know we can play with anybody in the country. We just have to go out there and show it."
Arkansas is 6-1 in its last seven games, including a 5-1 finish last season when the Razorbacks capped their 9-4 record by beating Penn State 24-10 in the Outback Bowl.
Cincinnati was 13-1 last season when the Bearcats lost to Alabama 27-6 in the Cotton Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinals. The Bearcats are 44-8 since 2018 under Coach Luke Fickell.
"It just shows that the program's still on the rise," junior quarterback KJ Jefferson said of the significance of Arkansas beating Cincinnati.
Knox said the Razorbacks still have things to clean up from the Cincinnati game.
"We're not the best Razorback team we're going to be right now, and we know that, and we're trying to get better every day," Knox said. "If you get better every day, you never know what could happen."
Arkansas opened the season by beating a ranked team for the first time since 1974 when the Razorbacks knocked off No. 5 Southern California 22-7 in Little Rock.
Cincinnati has been ranked in the AP poll for 45 consecutive weeks and could be again this week after playing the Razorbacks so close on the road.
"I was proud of our assistant coaches and really proud of our team to beat a top 25 team, and I think they are," Pittman said of the Bearcats. "We needed everybody, and I am real proud to be 1-0."
Up next
NO. 19 ARKANSAS VS. SOUTH CAROLINA
WHEN 11 a.m. Saturday
WHERE Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville
RECORDS Arkansas 1-0, South Carolina 1-0
LINE Arkansas by 71/2 points
TV ESPN
RADIO Razorback Sports Network