UA moves up opener’s start

An Arkansas football helmet sits on the ground prior to a game between the Razorbacks and Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019, in Lexington, Ky.
An Arkansas football helmet sits on the ground prior to a game between the Razorbacks and Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019, in Lexington, Ky.


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.

"We play five of our first eight games on the road," Pittman said. "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."

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.


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