The Arkansas Razorbacks have adjusted the kickoff time for their 2023 home opener against the Western Carolina Catamounts, the school announced on Monday.
Arkansas will host Western Carolina at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark., on Saturday, Sept. 2. The game was previously scheduled to kickoff at 4:00pm ET / 3:00pm CT, but the contest has been moved up three hours and will now kickoff at 1:00pm ET / noon CT. Live streaming coverage of the game will be provided by SEC Network+ and ESPN+.
The game was moved up three hours because of the “…weather forecast calling for temperatures in the mid 90s and high humidity on Saturday afternoon.” The school further stated that moving the game up “…will allow for safer conditions for the student-athletes on the field and fans in attendance.”
As part of the SEC’s contract with ESPN, one game per season will be streamed exclusively by SEC Network+ and ESPN+. Schools are able to dictate the kickoff times for those games, which allowed Arkansas to originally set the game for 4:00pm ET before changing it to 1:00pm ET.
Western Carolina is a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon) in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Catamounts have never faced the Razorbacks on the gridiron.
Arkansas is entering its fourth season under head coach Sam Pittman, who has a 19-17 overall record at the school (10-16 SEC). Pittman has also guided the Razorbacks to consecutive bowl victories, defeating Penn State in the Outback Bowl following the 2021 season, 24-10, and Kansas in the 2022 Liberty Bowl, 55-53.
Football Schedules