Tennessee football survived a bad fourth quarter performance to knock off Arkansas 34-31 and to improve to 5-1 (2-1 SEC) on Saturday afternoon. The Vols used a dominant third quarter to take control of the game before having to use a game-sealing drive to secure the win.
Here’s four quick takeaways on the Tennessee victory.
Arkansas Has Serious Success On The Ground
Arkansas entered the game with the SEC’s second best rushing attack. Right from the jump, Tennessee wasn’t able to do much to slow it down. The Razorbacks opened the game with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. 70 of those yards came on the ground including a sack.
The Razorbacks’s first nine rushes went for a total of 96 yards. Arkansas didn’t just stay in front of the sticks but created a number of explosive plays on the ground. It was a consistent stream of offense in the first half when Arkansas rushed for 157 yards.
But Tennessee slowed the Razorbacks down a decent bit in the second half. Arkansas rushed for just 83 yards in the second half with a number coming on scrambles. That largely forced Arkansas to be one dimensional, allowing Tennessee’s pass rush to tee off. That group continues to be one of the SEC’s best, recording five sacks
Braylon Staley Steps Up In The First Half, Mike Matthews In The Second Half
It was a rare quiet game for Chris Brazzell who caught just one pass for five yards. Tennessee’s Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews stepped up in his place.
Staley turned in the worst performance of his young career at Mississippi State two weeks ago. Staley showed his resilience with a key third quarter catch late in that game and showed it again with his best game of the season against Arkansas.
Staley hauled in a pass for 13 yards on Tennessee’s first offensive play of the game and it set the tone for the day. The redshirt freshman slot receiver caught six passes for 109 yards against Arkansas with 105 yards coming in the first half. He was Joey Aguilar’s go-to receiver in a number of spots including on chunk play and on third down.
In the second half, Aguilar went to Matthews more. After not catching a pass in the first half, Matthews hauled in three passes for 46 yards in the second half.
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Tennessee’s Third Quarter Defense Steps Up
The Vols defense got just two total first half snaps as Arkansas mostly moved the ball up-and-down the field, totaling 6.6 yards per play. But to begin the second half, Tennessee’s defense found a way to get four straight stops.
Those stops were not always pretty. On Arkansas’ first drive of the second, the Razorbacks were moving in the red zone on an option play when Edrees Farooq knocked the ball away from Braylon Russell and Tennessee recovered.
But Tennessee’s offense wasn’t able to expand on its three-point lead, going three-and-out. Arkansas again moved into Tennessee territory and had it third-and-three. The Vols blew up a third down run and then got off the field on fourth-and-four. Again, the Vols offense was unable to put together a strong drive.
On Arkansas’ next drive, Tennessee forced a three-and-out. And then Tennessee’s offense put together a touchdown drive to go up by two possessions.
Tennessee got one more stop for good measure. Back-to-back sacks, the second a strip sack by Josh Josephs set the Vols up deep in Arkansas territory. They took advantage, using a Peyton Lewis touchdown run to open up a commanding 17-point lead.
Tennessee Goes Conservative And Arkansas Makes It A Game
The game seemed all but over when Tennessee scored to go up 17 points with just over 13 minutes to play. But the Vols were unable to make the plays to end the game drama free.
Arkansas used a long drive to move down the field and score a touchdown to make it a 10-point game with eight minutes to play. Tennessee put together a decent drive, crossing midfield before going mega conservative with three straight runs and a punt to give Arkansas the ball back.
The Razorbacks went straight down the field, scoring in 1:56 to put all the pressure back on Tennessee’s offense. A game that seemed over just 10 minutes before was very much a game again with 2:55 to play.
Tennessee’s offense was able to put the game away on the ground, thanks in large part to a 28-yard Aguilar run. But the game got way tighter than it needed to as Tennessee didn’t keep its foot on the Razorbacks’ neck.
One Response
The Vols did not come ready to play. I blame the coaching staff for not doing their job during the 2-week between games and prep for the game.