Jeff Long: No plans to change Arkansas football schedule

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The Southeastern Conference may be working to help alleviate Alabama’s football schedule next season, but don’t expect Arkansas to make a change in dates.

The Tide is scheduled to play six teams coming off open dates next season, a high number that caught the attention of the SEC office this offseason. Shifting of games and dates on the Alabama schedule is expected, and Arkansas’ trip to South Carolina on Nov. 6 was mentioned by the Tuscaloosa News in a recent report as a possibility of being moved to Oct. 2.

Of course, the move was only mentioned as a possibility. Even so, I reached out to Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long about the report.

“I have been contacted by the SEC office and there are no plans for a change to our 2010 football schedule,” Long said.

The SEC is expected to announce changes to Alabama’s upcoming football schedule at the end of this month, according to the Tuscaloosa News. The change could affect several schools in the SEC.

Here are the possibilities lined out in the report:

“Only two conference games — Auburn-Georgia on Nov. 13 and Arkansas-South Carolina on Nov. 6 — could be moved to alleviate the problem without also moving other games. Auburn and Georgia share an idle date on Nov. 20, and moving that game into the Nov. 20 opening would eliminate the Tigers’ open date prior to its game against Alabama the following week. Similarly, Arkansas and South Carolina share an idle date on Oct. 2. Moving that game to Oct. 2 would put the Gamecocks in action rather than being idle before facing Alabama on Oct. 9."

The hope is that SEC teams will face no more than three or four “idle-rested” teams in the future, according to the report. The SEC is working on making that a reality in the future.