Razorbacks set for gauntlet with second-toughest SEC schedule

There’s no gentle way to put Arkansas' schedule this season into a positive light.

The Razorbacks might be staring down the most difficult gauntlet in all of college football for 2025. The rankings starting to come out aren't surprising, but will still get your attention.

When the SEC released the schedule and national analysts started crunching the numbers, it quickly became clear that no team, not even among the bluebloods, will face a more challenging road than the Hogs.

That statement was confirmed by Phil Steele, the veteran college football analyst whose annual schedule rankings are gospel for fans and coaches alike.

Steele has Arkansas’s 2025 schedule ranked third-toughest in the country, behind only Mississippi State and one other, while noting that the Razorbacks’ opponents had a combined .667 winning percentage last year, the highest in the nation.

With a bunch of new faces for the Hogs, they better be good. Really good and better than last year's team or things could get brutal.

It's not really new. It seems like Arkansas is in this position more and more the last few years, due in large part to they can't get any momentum.

Projections are based in large part on last year's record. Considering Arkansas' schedule is usually brutal every year, it's not hard to see why hope is about all fans have to hang their hat on these days.

Sam Pittman, heading into his sixth season at the helm, isn’t mincing words about what’s ahead. “We play better with pads on, we practice better with pads on,” Pittman said this spring.

They better because there wasn't anything much beyond hope pointing at making a huge leap above the 7-6 record last year after a Liberty Bowl win over Texas Tech.

The Razorbacks have gone from No. 23 in Steele’s schedule ranking last fall to No. 3 in 2025, and Pittman knows the stakes are rising with every snap.

The schedule itself reads like a murderers’ row. Arkansas opens the non-conference slate at Memphis, a team coming off consecutive 10-win seasons and eager to prove itself against an SEC foe.

That’s followed by a home clash with Notre Dame, last season’s national runner-up, in a marquee game certain to bring national attention to Fayetteville.

The SEC portion doesn’t offer any breaks. Arkansas hosts Texas A&M, Auburn, and Mississippi State. At least the league was kind enough for once that, on paper, that looks like three games that may fall with the breaks.

It’s the road games and timing that could define the season, with trips to Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU and Texas. That's four environments that rank among the most intimidating in college football.

Each of those opponents finished last season with bowl wins or double-digit victories and none are expected to take a step back.

The consensus from both local and national observers is that Arkansas will need to scratch and claw for every win. Longtime media pundit Paul Finebaum, put it more bluntly on his SEC Network show.

“This might be the toughest single-season schedule I’ve ever seen for a Power Five team,” he said.

The challenge for Pittman is pretty clear. After a 7-6 campaign in 2024  quieted some doubts about his future, the 2025 season could have flames roaring up if it goes the wrong way.

“I said, whenever I signed the contract, I’d see it through,” Pittman recently told On3, reaffirming his commitment to the program but he probably is at the mercy of what the players are able to accomplish.

In the SEC, job security is always a week-to-week proposition.

The Razorbacks’ quarterback room will be led by Taylen Green, a young transfer with high upside but limited SEC experience. His improvement over last season will be in focus.

There aren't any “gimme” games on the schedule after an opener against Alabama A&M. After that, the remaining four games in September will set the tone.

The broader context for Arkansas’s schedule is the SEC’s new 16-team format, which has only heightened the intensity of every matchup. With Texas and Oklahoma now full league members, the conference has scrapped divisions and adopted a more flexible, rotating schedule.

That change, designed to create balance, has instead produced a lineup where any given week can mean facing a playoff-caliber opponent.

The path to bowl eligibility is treacherous. Arkansas will need to win at least six games, and it's hard to find them on the schedule right now that come with any sort of believable guarantee.

The early part of the schedule offers little room for error. If the Razorbacks can beat Memphis and hold on against Texas A&M and Auburn in October they’ll have momentum heading into a nightmare November stretch that includes trips to Baton Rouge and Austin.

“We know what’s in front of us,” Pittman has said. “We’re not looking for sympathy. We’re looking for respect.”

Whether anybody likes it or not, respect is earned in the SEC, one brutal Saturday at a time.

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