ARKANSAS HITS ROAD early for 2020 football season.

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas will face a difficult September stretch in the first month of its 2020 football schedule, which was released by the SEC office Wednesday.

In 2020, the Razorbacks will have seven home games at Reynolds Razorback Stadium for the first time, and they will not play a game in Little Rock for the first season since 1931.

Arkansas will host Kent State in the season opener Sept. 5, then will face Notre Dame and Mississippi State on the road before playing Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 26 to close out the month. The Notre Dame game in South Bend, Ind., will be Arkansas’ first game against the Fighting Irish and its first Power 5 nonconference game since falling 28-7 at home against TCU in 2017.

Arkansas will play one home game in the month of September, a contrast to this year’s schedule, in which the Hogs host Portland State, Colorado State and San Jose State at Razorback Stadium in the first four weeks.

The 2020 schedule also includes nonconference games against Charleston Southern and Louisiana-Monroe, which join Notre Dame and Kent State as the Hogs’ nonconference opponents.

The flip side of the early travel comes in October, when the Razorbacks will not leave the state. They host Charleston Southern on Oct. 3, then have consecutive home games against Alabama and LSU before an open date Oct. 24. They close the month at home against Tennessee on Halloween.

The final month opens with a road game at Auburn on Nov. 7, followed by home games against Ole Miss and Louisiana-Monroe the next two weeks, prior to the road finale at Missouri. That game is currently scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 28, but there is again a strong chance the kickoff will be moved to Black Friday.

The lone open date occurs after seven games. Arkansas has two open dates this season, on Oct. 5 between its fifth game versus Texas A&M and its sixth game at Kentucky, as well as on Nov. 16 after its 10th game against Western Kentucky and prior to its twogame finish at LSU and versus Missouri in Little Rock.