The 2020 Arkansas Razorbacks football team represented the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Razorbacks played their home games at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until ...

. The team competed as a member of the Western Division of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) and was led by first-year head coach

Sam Pittman Sam Pittman (born November 28, 1961) is an American football coach who is the head football coach at the University of Arkansas. Prior to being hired at Arkansas, he was the associate head coach and offensive line coach at the University of Georg ...

. In a season impacted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the Razorbacks compiled a 3–7 record, all in conference play. This was the first season since

War Memorial Stadium War Memorial Stadium may refer to: * Ada War Memorial Stadium, in Ada, Ohio, also known as ''War Memorial Stadium'' * War Memorial Stadium (Arkansas), Little Rock, Arkansas * War Memorial Stadium (Austin, Texas) (former official name 1924–1947), ...

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

opened that the Razorbacks did not play at least one home game in that stadium. Arkansas was scheduled to play the annual Red/White spring game at War Memorial in April at the conclusion of spring practice, but the SEC did not approve those plans. On October 3, Arkansas defeated No. 16

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

, 21–14, snapping a 20-game SEC losing streak. It marked their first conference win since October 2017, their first win against a ranked team since November 2016, and their first road win against a ranked SEC team since November 2015. After the regular season completed, the Razorbacks accepted a bid to the 2020

Texas Bowl The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replaced ...

. Slated to face TCU, the bowl was canceled when TCU had to withdraw due to COVID-19 issues within their program.

Previous season

The Razorbacks finished the 2019 season 2–10, 0–8 in SEC play, for the second consecutive year, to finish in last place in the Western Division. After the Razorbacks' tenth game of the season, a loss to

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

that dropped the Hogs to 2–8, second-year head coach

Chad Morris Chad Allen Morris (born December 4, 1968) is an American football coach. He is currently an offensive analyst at South Florida. Morris served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the University ...

was fired. He finished at Arkansas with a record of 4–18.

Barry Lunney Jr. Barry Lunney Jr. (born September 11, 1974) is an American football coach. He is the offensive coordinator at the University of Illinois. Lunney served as the interim head football coach at the University of Arkansas for the final two games of the ...

finished the season as interim coach and departed the program to serve as the offensive coordinator at UTSA after the season ended.

Season

SEC Media Days

In the preseason media poll, Arkansas was predicted to finish in last place in the West Division.

Preseason All-SEC teams

The Razorbacks had one player selected to the preseason all-SEC teams, released on September 17, 2020. Offense ''2nd team'' Rakeem Boyd – RB

Recruits

The Razorbacks signed a total of 19 recruits from high school and junior college. Arkansas also signed six transfers in the 2020 class.

Personnel

Roster

Coaching staff

Schedule

The Razorbacks' 2020 schedule consists of 5 home games and 5 away games. The Razorbacks will host SEC foes

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

for the

Battle for the Golden Boot A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

game,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, and Ole Miss, and will travel to face

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

for the

Southwest Classic The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

game, and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

for the

Battle Line Rivalry The Battle Line Rivalry is the name given to the Arkansas–Missouri football rivalry due to the state line between the two states dividing the North and South during the Civil War. It is an American college football rivalry game between the Ark ...

game. Arkansas had games scheduled against

Charleston Southern Charleston Southern University (CSU) is a private Baptist university in North Charleston, South Carolina. It is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention ( Southern Baptist Convention). History Charleston Southern University was ch ...

, Louisiana–Monroe,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, and Notre Dame, which were all canceled due to the

. In August 2020, the conference revealed the 10-game conference schedules that each team would be playing, consisting of the eight conference games already scheduled plus an additional two crossover games (one home and one away). After Arkansas was scheduled to play Georgia and Florida, the top two teams in the East Division in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, athletic director Hunter Yurachek stated that Arkansas had "the most challenging schedule in the history of college football." The full 10-game schedule was released by the conference on August 17. On November 23, 2020, Arkansas' game against Missouri was postponed due to an increase in COVID-19 cases within the Arkansas program. On November 27, 2020, the SEC revised the schedules of multiple teams over the next few weeks, a move that saw the Arkansas–Missouri contest moved to December 5 and the Arkansas–Alabama game moved to a date to be determined and later scheduled for December 12. The Razorbacks were selected to participate in the 2020 Texas Bowl against TCU but the game was canceled two days beforehand because of COVID-19 concerns in the Horned Frogs' program.

Game summaries

No. 4 Georgia

At No. 16 Mississippi State

At No. 13 Auburn

Ole Miss

At No. 8 Texas A&M

Tennessee

At No. 6 Florida

LSU

At Missouri

No. 1 Alabama

Statistics

Team

Scores by quarter

Rankings

*Poll not released week 1.

Players drafted into the NFL

Notes

References

{{Arkansas Razorbacks football navbox

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Arkansas Razorbacks football seasons

Arkansas Razorbacks football The Arkansas Razorbacks football program represents the University of Arkansas in the sport of American football. The Razorbacks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Weste ...