Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

7/21/2010 at 2:09pm

The biggest Arkansas-related news out of Wednesday's opening day of Southeastern Conference Media Days was the announced start times for the Razorbacks' opening two games of the 2010 football season.

As if we didn't see this coming: 6 p.m. for both games -- the Sept. 4 opener against Tennessee Tech in Fayetteville and the Sept. 11 first Little Rock game, against Louisiana-Monroe.

Neither looked like a candidate for prime network (ESPN or CBS) coverage, even at 11 a.m. But with the SEC's policy established last year with ESPN that all the league games, even nonconference matchups, will be televised, these games will be picked up by one of SEC/ESPN's lesser affiliates, meaning that no one outside of fans of the two teams will likely watch.

OK, that's a bit harsh. Regular college football fans who can access the likes of FoxSportsNet on their cable will tune may just tune in to see Ryan Mallett throw a few early touchdown passes before retiring to the sidelines in what should be easy victories for Arkansas.

The Tennessee Tech game, believe it or not, will be available via pay-per-view, according to Arkansas media relations. KATV news anchor Scott Inman will handle the play by play, with Arkansas native Jimmy Dykes doing the color commentary. Information on purchasing the broadcast will be announced later.

Arkansas is playing Tennessee Tech, a Football Championship Subdivision team, for the first time. The Arkansas game against Louisiana-Monroe will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net. The Razorbacks are 8-0 all-time against the Warhawks.

A lot of folks were going to have some irate Central Arkansas Hog fans on their hands if the Louisiana-Monroe game for War Memorial Stadium had been scheduled for 11 a.m., played under a blistering mid-September sun. It's all about the tailgating for this game, and taking away the tailgating at WMS (at AT&T Field) for UA vs. ULM is not an option.

Tagged: War Memorial Stadium, CBS College Sports Network, ESPN, Southeastern Conference