The scheduling of two early-season Arkansas football games led athletic director Hunter Yurachek to release a statement this week blaming ESPN and urging the network and the SEC to “aggressively pursue an alternative solution.”
The Razorbacks are scheduled to play at Utah at 10:15 p.m. ET on Sept. 12, then at home against Georgia at noon ET on Sept. 19. Yurachek wrote in the statement that the condensed schedule is “a genuine welfare issue for the young men who represent our program.”
Yurachek, who also serves as the chairman of the College Football Playoff committee, named ESPN directly in his comments, stating that the network is at fault for the disadvantage and supposed risk to physical health posed by the scheduling.
“The assigned schedule will cost our student-athletes nearly a full day rest and recovery that they would otherwise have available to them,” the AD wrote. “This is not simply a competitive disadvantage — it is a genuine welfare issue for the young men who represent our program and contribute greatly to the bottom line of our television partners.”
— Hunter Yurachek (@HunterYurachek) May 27, 2026
Yurachek also revealed that he is in touch with the network and the SEC to resolve the problem and reschedule one or both games.
“The focus must be on the well-being of the game’s participants – not the bottom line of our media partner,” he wrote.
Early-season college football schedules were released Wednesday, and network preferences go a long way toward determining kickoff times and sometimes dates.
Given that Arkansas finished 0-8 in the SEC last season and that one or a handful of teams will inevitably get the short end of the stick in a stacked conference, Yurachek is not off-base to note that “not many other teams in the SEC would be placed in a similar position.” However, the Razorbacks faced ranked opponents in both games, which likely explains why ESPN would have had a stronger hand in scheduling them.
While Yuracheck vowed not to “quietly accept” the scheduling as-is, it remains unclear whether ESPN or the SEC will budge.
