No. 12 Tennessee defeated Arkansas 34-31 on Saturday in Neyland Stadium in front of 101,915 fans.
It was a game that saw the Razorbacks rally back from down 34-17 to make a game out of it. Bobby Petrino was serving his first game as interim head coach and his team responded well. However it was a decision Petrino made with 5:57 remaining in the third quarter and the Hogs trailing only 20-17. Arkansas faced a fourth-and-4 play at the Tennessee 26. Petrino bypassed the field goal and instead Taylen Green threw an incomplete pass. It would have been a 44-yard field goal attempt for Scott Starzyk who had already made one from 28.
"I thought our players really competed hard," Petrino said. "We're well prepared. They came out and we're well prepared for the game. We played physical, we played tough. They're a good, good football team. Offensively, they know how to move the ball. We gave up some explosive plays, but we kept our poise, and our players stuck together and came up with some huge stops that gave us an opportunity to win the game.
"Offensively, I like the way we started. They made some good adjustments in the third quarter that hurt us being able to continue to run the ball. Probably too stubborn with it because I wanted to keep them on the sideline. But then we came out and started throwing it around, and I thought we did a good job of throwing and catching. We got hurt with some protections and negative plays, and obviously the turnovers ended up killing us. And then, I made the decision to go for it instead of kick the field goal, and that ends up killing us too. So, yeah."
Petrino was asked if that was a gut call to bypass the field goal?
"Yeah, we went into the game saying, 'Hey, man, we're going to be real aggressive. We're going to have to go score points,'" Petrino said. "And it worked on the fourth-and-one (on first drive). That's where I felt like, 'Oh my gosh, am I really doing this? Going for it on fourth and one?' But they did a great– our O-line and Taylen did a great job on that one. And I thought we had the call for the last one. Raylen Sharpe was wide open, and we chose to go to the other side, so that– sometimes you pick the wrong side and on that one we did."
The fourth-and-1 call Petrino referred to came on Arkansas' opening possession. It was at his own 34-yard line. Arkansas eventually took a 7-0 lead on an 11-yard run by Green. It completed a nine-play, 75-yard drive.
Petrino was working with three new coaches on defense. They held Tennessee to its fewest points of the season. In addition, the Vols were only 2 of 7 on third down. Petrino kept it positive when speaking to the team following the game.
"I just told them to keep their heads up," Petrino said. "We came in here to show that we were going to compete. We were well prepared. They played physical and tough. They never gave in. We wanted to play one play at a time and find a way to win in the fourth quarter. I was proud of the way the defense stuck together and kept competing. Obviously, we gave up some things, but we also made plays to give us a chance to win, so now we just got to stick together and continue to practice and prepare the way that we did these last two weeks, probably week. But we're right there. We've just got to find a way to get over the hump."
Fans were waiting to see how the team would respond since Sam Pittman, Travis Williams, Deke Adams and Marcus Woodson were all fired following the 56-13 loss to Notre Dame two weeks ago.
"What made me feel good was the way they practiced the attitudes that they had," Petrino said. "The number of kids that came into my office and wanted to talk one-on-one, and then they go out there tonight, compete extremely hard. It's a credit to those players. It's a credit to the guys within the team, because (chokes up), excuse me, they made the decision to keep everybody together, and that's what I wanted to make it about, was the players, and I'm very proud of them."
While the team did suffer three lost fumbles that proved costly, an area they improved in was penalties. The Razorbacks were penalized one time for 10 yards. Tennessee drew 10 penalties for 78 yards.
"What doesn't make you feel good is those turnovers and going for the fourth down instead of kicking the field goal," Petrino said. "But I'm proud of the way the players competed and the way they stuck together, because there was a point in there, offensively, that it felt like, 'Hey, this thing's falling apart a little bit.' Then they came together and talked about it with each other, and then went out and competed. We had probably six plays where all of a sudden one guy’s making a mistake here, then the next guy, then the next guy. And it looked like, ‘aw, shoot.’ But they did a good job of continuing to compete."
Petrino was who fired the three defensive assistants. He promised change and that is what the Hogs got.
"There was a lot of change," Petrino said. "That's one of the things we told them. Everyone's going to have to do the rest of their life. Everybody's gonna have change the rest of their life. So how they handled it was pretty good. They had great attitude, great work ethic, came to practice with a smile, finished practice with a smile, helped each other out. So I'm just proud of the players."
The game was tied at 17 at intermission. Tennessee's Max Gilbert kicked a 50-yard field goal to start the second half scoring. That gave the Vols a 20-17 lead with 11:50 remaining in the third period.
On Arkansas' first possession of the second half, the team was moving the ball well. On a second-and-1 play at the Tennessee 29 Braylen Russell ran for five yards but fumbled following a jarring hit that caused him to miss some time before he finally returned late.
But the Arkansas defense forced a three-and-out for Tennessee on its next possession. The Razorbacks once again drove deep into Tennessee territory, but that was when Petrino bypassed the field goal turning the ball over on downs.
Tennessee running back Peyton Lewis ran for touchdowns on the Vols' next two possessions putting his team up 34-17 with 13:14 remaining in the game.
But the Hogs weren't finished. On its next possession they drove 81 yards in 10 plays with Green finding tight end Rohan Jones for a 9-yard touchdown. Green then found Kam Shanks for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 2:55 remaining in the game. But that was as close as the Hogs would get as Tennessee was able to run off the final time on the clock.
Green completed 21 of 31 for 256 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed 17 times for 63 yards and another touchdown. Mike Washington had 19 carries for 131 yards and a touchdown. Raylen Sharpe caught seven passes for 76 yards. Linebacker Stephen Dix Jr. had 11 tackles to lead Arkansas.
Tennessee's Joey Aguilar completed 16 of 25 passes for 221 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed five times for 59 yards. DeSean Bishop rushed 14 times for 146 yards and a touchdown. Braylon Staley had six receptions for 109 yards.
Arkansas finished with 496 yards of offense compared to 485 for Tennessee (5-1, 2-1).
Arkansas (2-4, 0-2) will be at home on Saturday to host No. 5 Texas A&M who is playing Florida tonight.
Photos: Craven Whitlow
