Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek Cries Out for Help on Twitter Over Unfair Football Kickoff Times
I have been given a softball with this post that the AD of Arkansas, Hunter Yurachek, sent out crying, saying the kickoff times vs. Utah and Georgia put Arkansas at a “competitive disadvantage.” Arkansas has to play @ Utah at 9:15 PM CT on ESPN on 9/12 and then play Georgia at 11 AM on ABC in Fayetteville, AR on 9/19.
There is just no way someone this high up at the university sends out this message and thinks the feedback they are going to receive is going to be good. And let me tell you, it’s not.
Look, when it comes to this schedule mishap, I feel like this could have been avoided by both the SEC and Arkansas. This matchup versus Utah was announced in 2019, and the Week 3 matchup versus Georgia was announced on December 11th, 2025.
Now you are probably asking yourself, “Well, why didn’t Arkansas go to ESPN or the SEC committee asking for an earlier kickoff time against Utah?” And I have no idea. Maybe they did.
So I went and did some digging to see what could possibly be on ESPN in 108 days.
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Well, at noon ET, you have one of the favorites to win the CFP in Oregon traveling to Oklahoma State and their new-look team under Eric Morris. I think you could make an argument for why Arkansas @ Utah should be put here IF it was in Fayetteville, but it’s not, and the local kickoff time would have been 10 AM.
If the AD for Arkansas is complaining about a “competitive disadvantage,” then making his team play a 10 AM local kickoff would be another disadvantage, so throw that out the window.
Now onto the 3:30 kickoff time.
The 140th Women’s US Open Final is scheduled to start at 4 PM ET. I feel like I don’t even need to make an argument here. Arkansas or Utah football is not replacing the Women’s US Open Final.
So, 3:30 is out. Let’s see what’s going on in the 7:00 PM slot.
Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech. Here, I will give it to you, I think an argument could be made for making this Arkansas vs. Utah. But then you remember one thing: UTAH IS BIG 12 AFTER DARK. They couldn’t put this game at 10:15 ET because that wouldn’t be fair to Georgia Tech or Tennessee kicking off at 10:15 PM ET. In Salt Lake City, it would only be 8:15 PM local time.
You have to remember this started off with Arkansas being put at a “competitive disadvantage,” and we can’t put two other teams in an even worse “competitive disadvantage” spot.
The moral of the story is Hunter Yurachek and Arkansas are dumb for putting out this message. Look, you are playing a Power 4 team on ESPN. The TV money will be there, and I know at the end of the day that is all Yurachek cares about. Also, let’s not ignore the fact that Arkansas has been TERRIBLE for the past 15 years. I don’t think if they got the 7:00 PM kickoff time on ESPN that the extra 3 hours of sleep is going to make a difference against Georgia. They will get steamrolled, and it will be amazing to watch.
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If I’m an Arkansas fan, I am truly embarrassed by this statement put out by your AD. But hey, that’s just what Arkansas is: a sorry-ass university.