FAYETTEVILLE — The game time has been changed for Arkansas’ season-opening football game against Western Carolina on Saturday.
The game between the Razorbacks and the Catamounts will kick off at noon at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. It was originally scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
Saturday's forecast calls for a high of 95 degrees in Little Rock, according to the National Weather Service. Humidity will result in a heat index that makes it feel closer to 100 degrees.
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said the heat and the team's travel time back to Fayetteville were factors in the decision to change the game time. The Razorbacks will bus to Little Rock and back.
“We’re trying to do what’s best for our team and what’s best for the fans," said Pittman, who added, "We play five of our first eight games on the road, so when the heat came out, there was a decision to make whether you’re going to move it forward or move it backward.
"It just made no sense to me to move it back and get our kids back here at 1:30, 2, 2:30 in the morning for a game where we could move it up. Tailgating should be cooler, the game should be cooler....I just thought it was the smartest thing for us once the heat became a factor to move it up for the safety of our kids and for our fans."
Unlike its other scheduled games, Arkansas is able to control the start time for Saturday’s game because it will only be shown on streaming channels ESPN+ and SEC Network+, and not on a traditional TV network.
As part of the SEC’s contract with ESPN, each school will have one home game streamed each season and controls the time that game will kick off.