Arkansas has a brand-new coach, a brand-new roster, and a brand-new identity to figure out — Tulsa's visit is the kind of game that tells you whether any of it is actually working.
Bush’s Picks
TLSAARK
TLSAARK
OverUnder
Best BetArkansas
Arkansas enters with a massive roster infusion and a coach who won 50 games in 6 seasons at Memphis, and that talent gap over a Tulsa team picked around .500 should show up in the box score even with the Hogs' new pieces still gelling. The bigger risk with a fresh staff and unsettled quarterback room is sloppiness, not a lack of horses.
Tulsa
+Elijah Green, All-Conference CB, led AAC in picks
+Baylor Hayes returns with starting experience
+Portal additions bolstered skill talent
−Went 4-8 last year, sub-.500 since 2022
−No bowl appearance since 2021
−CFN projects only 5-7 this season
Arkansas
+Silverfield went 50-24 in 6 years at Memphis
+42 transfers overhauled the roster this offseason
+Home game for a new staff's early evaluation
−Finished 2025 at 2-10, lost final 6 straight
−QB battle between Jackson and Hill still unresolved
−New scheme and staff still installing this early
This one is about first impressions. Ryan Silverfield takes over a Razorbacks program that finished 2-10 last season and lost its final six games under interim coach Bobby Petrino by an average of under a point a possession, and he did it by blowing the roster up — 42 transfers in, a new offensive scheme, and a quarterback battle between returner KJ Jackson and Memphis import AJ Hill that reportedly still isn't settled. A visit from Tulsa in late September is exactly the kind of game a new staff needs to find its footing before SEC play gets heavier.
Tulsa isn't just a name on the schedule, either. Tre Lamb's Golden Hurricane went 4-8 in his first year but got aggressive in the portal, and they return First Team All-Conference cornerback Elijah Green, who led the American with 5 interceptions last season, plus sophomore quarterback Baylor Hayes coming off meaningful reps as a first-year starter. This isn't a program conceding the trip to Fayetteville — it's one trying to prove the rebuild is ahead of schedule.
Show fees
7:00 PM CT
Spread
ML
Total
TLSA Tulsa
ARK Arkansas
Both sides are essentially auditioning new versions of themselves in front of a live crowd. For Arkansas, that means figuring out who's actually taking snaps behind an offensive line that's absorbing a wave of newcomers. For Tulsa, it means seeing if Hayes and a retooled skill group can hang with a Power Four defense that spent all offseason getting overhauled too. Neither program has much of a track record yet under its current staff, which makes projecting exactly how this plays out a genuine guessing game.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Sep 19?vs East Texas A&M—
Sep 12?@ Sam Houston—
Sep 5?vs Oklahoma State—
Arkansas Razorbacks
Sep 19?vs Georgia—
Sep 12?@ Utah—
Sep 5?vs North Alabama—
Recent form.
The bigger question for Arkansas isn't talent, it's continuity. A team that lost 7 straight to close out last season and is still sorting its starting quarterback doesn't get to lean on chemistry the way an established program would — every rep this fall is also an evaluation. Tulsa, by contrast, knows exactly who its quarterback is and what its identity looks like, even if the overall talent level trails what Arkansas is now stockpiling.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Arkansas Razorbacks
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
However it shakes out, this is a useful measuring-stick game before the schedule turns unforgiving for both sides — Arkansas heads into a full SEC slate soon after, and Tulsa still has to navigate a brutal three-week option-offense stretch against Navy, Rice, and Army. Whoever looks more like a finished product on Saturday, September 26 will have real momentum heading into the tougher part of their season.
