Rutgers was able to fill one of the openings on its football schedule for this fall by announcing a two-game series with Arkansas, starting on Sept. 22, but the completion of the 12-game slate now rests with the Big East.

The Scarlet Knights will play at Fayetteville, Ark., this season, with the Razorbacks coming to High Point Solutions Stadium a year later, on Sept. 21, 2013.

Though Rutgers has faced seven SEC schools in its history (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee and Vanderbilt), Arkansas will be the first from the conference to play a game in Piscataway. The previous six home games against SEC opponents were played at Giants Stadium.

This year's schedule, meanwhile, will remain incomplete for Rutgers and the remaining six football-playing Big East schools until the league determines how — or if — it will replace West Virginia this season.

According to published reports, the league is working with Boise State in an effort to fast-track the Broncos into the Big East this season. Boise, San Diego State, Houston, SMU, Central Florida and Memphis are scheduled to join the league in 2013.

Failing that, speculation has centered on adding Temple as a new member immediately.

The final option is to play with seven football schools for one season until reinforcements arrive the following year. That would leave the schools scrambling to get another game.

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MORE COVERAGE OF RUTGERS FOOTBALL

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West Virginia left the seven Big East football schools with an unexpected scheduling void by reaching a settlement with the Big East earlier this week to leave immediately for the Big 12.

The addition of Arkansas gives Rutgers’ non-conference schedule the star power it was sorely lacking, with Tulane, Howard, Army and Kent State the other non-Big East opponents.

“It is a constant priority to secure marquee scheduling opportunities for our football program and our fans,” Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti in a statement.

Rutgers has a two-game series with Penn State in 2014-15, a two-game series with Miami in 2018-19 and a two-game series with UCLA in 2016-17.

Arkansas, 11-2 last season with its losses to national champion Alabama and runner-up LSU, will feature one of the college games most productive passers in Tyler Wilson. He threw for 3,638 yards and 24 TDs last season.

NOTES:

Longtime deputy director of athletics Kevin MacConnell, the No. 2 person in the athletic department, resigned to become director of operations for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

MacConnell, widely respected for his behind-the-scenes work during his 26 years at the school, joins an exodus that has seen Greg Schiano add four Rutgers assistants (Brian Angelichio, P.J. Fleck, Bob Fraser and Jeff Hafley) and strength and conditioning coach Jay Butler to his staff in Tampa. Schiano was named coach of the Bucs last month after 11 years overseeing the Rutgers football program.

Jordan Thomas, Rutgers' leading rusher as a freshman in 2010 and a reserve cornerback last season, has left the program to run track at Binghamton University, closer to his home in Endicott, N.Y., the school announced.

Tom Luicci: tluicci@starledger.com