Arkansas 2026 Football Schedule Breakdown and Analysis

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New head coach Ryan Silverfield will be tested right away with the Arkansas 2026 football schedule.

There might be a few nice breaks, and it should be a better season than the 2-10 clunker of last year, but the nine-game SEC schedule won’t make this easy.

Six of the ten losses were by a touchdown or less – and one was to Silverfield’s Memphis team. This year, the hope is for the team to be just as competitive and catch a few breaks.

Here’s our breakdown of the Hog slate.

The Good, the Bad, and Who Arkansas Misses in 2026

Dec 4, 2025; Fayetteville, AR, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Ryan Silverfield during his introductory press conference and vice chancellor and director of athletics Hunter Yurachek pose with a jersey with the number 35 signifying the 35th Arkansas head coach at Frank Broyles Center. © Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

The Good

There aren’t back-to-back road games, and three of the first four – all in September – are in Donald W. Reynolds.

More on this in a moment, but missing three of the SEC’s College Football Playoff teams from last year is a plus, the non-conference games against North Alabama and Tulsa shouldn’t be a problem, and …

The Bad

At Utah.

With a nine-game SEC schedule, Arkansas would be forgiven if it hosted Utah Lite, but that’s a brutal road game to go along with SEC away dates at Texas A&M, Texas, Vanderbilt, and Auburn.

When a home game against South Carolina is your easiest date, there’s a problem.

What SEC Teams Arkansas Will Miss

Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss.

Arkansas’s Best and Worst Case Scenarios in 2026

Best Case: The Hogs own home

The road games will realistically be rough, but Arkansas gets by Auburn and Vanderbilt to make them less painful.

There’s no problem against North Alabama or Tulsa, a win over Missouri after getting a week off is big, and getting by South Carolina locks in a bowl game.

Even better, an upset over LSU makes it the first winning regular season since 2021.

Worst Case: 0-for-the-SEC

Once again, Arkansas is competitive, but it can’t find conference wins.

Last year’s team was 0-8 in SEC play, and the program has dropped 11 straight, going back to a late October win over Mississippi State in 2024.

That doesn’t stop.

The Hogs beat North Alabama and Tulsa, but lose at Utah, drop the SEC opener against Georgia, are underdogs the rest of the way, and can’t get past anyone, including South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Missouri.

Arkansas Football 2026 Schedule

Sept 5 North Alabama
Sept 12 at Utah
Sept 19 Georgia
Sept 26 Tulsa
Oct 3 at Texas A&M
Oct 10 Tennessee
Oct 17 at Vanderbilt
Oct 24 OPEN DATE
Oct 31 Missouri
Nov 7 at Auburn
Nov 14 South Carolina
Nov 21 at Texas
Nov 28 LSU

Games That Will Decide the Arkansas Season

1. at Vanderbilt, Oct. 17
The two teams have only played three times since 2006, but this time around, this might be the Hogs’ best shot at a road win.

2. Missouri. Oct. 31
Arkansas has lost four straight since 2021. This season, it’s at the end of October, the team should be as jelled as it will be, and it comes after a week off. Any dreams of going to a bowl game get popped without a win here.

3. Tennessee, Oct. 10
Can the Hogs pull off something special? It comes after the trip to Texas A&M, and if they can win, they’ll probably have three wins banked with a shot to pull off a winning season.

This story was originally published by College Football News on Feb 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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