This week, the #4 Tennessee Volunteers will face a significant challenge when they travel to Fayetteville to face the Arkansas Razorbacks. Although the Razorbacks are 3-2 and are not making major headlines, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is not taking this game lightly. In his press conference on Monday, Heupel mentioned, “They are a couple plays from being undefeated.” The Razorback’s first loss of the season was in a double overtime shootout against the Oklahoma State Cowboys (ranked 16th at the time), and their second was to the 24th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies that came down to the last few drives.
Tennessee has been on a roll, starting the season 4-0 and looking absolutely dominant. Coming into this season, there was a lot of hype surrounding #8 freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava, and he has proven to show up and make smart decisions every game. Lined up next to Nico, #6 Dylan Sampson has also shown he is a force in the run game, averaging 6.5 yards per carry and having 10 touchdowns in the season. On the other side of the ball, Tennessee’s defense is a national leader, only allowing 125.3 passing yards and 50.8 yards per game with linebacker leaders #7 Arion Carter and #11 Keenan Pili.
The Challenge Tennessee Faces
Arkansas’s quarterback, #10 Taylen Green, is dynamic. He can throw in the pocket, is mobile, and makes good reads on option plays. Although he is throwing 54% through the year, he is the Razorback’s second-leading rusher with 331 yards, averaging 4.6 yards per game. The primary rusher, #22 Ja’Quinden Jackson, has 509 yards and 9 touchdowns this season. Jackson is quick and tough with how he fights for more yards. These two have allowed Arkansas to average 495 total offense yards per game.
The Arkasas’s defense, as a whole, does an excellent job at stopping the run, only allowing 93 yards per game. Their defensive leader, #10 Xavian Sorey Jr., has 32 tackles and 1 sack on the season. He can fly to the ball and does an excellent job stopping the run. Also, there is #3 Doneiko Slaughter, a defensive back who transferred from Tennessee at the end of the 2023 season who has shown strong coverage and is responsible for 25 tackles and 1 interception.
How Tennessee Not Only Wins But Dominates This Game
I truly believe Tennessee will win this game, but if they want to prove their worth, they must do a few key things to dominate. The first thing is getting the run game going early. The entire running back room seems to be really good. In their last game against the Oklahoma Sooners, Tennessee struggled at times to run the ball, possibly due to the injuries throughout the offensive line. With offensive tackles Lance Heard and John Campbell returning from injuries, this should help the offensive line tremendously for the Vols in both the pass and rush game.
The second thing the Volunteers need is for Nico Iamaleava to continue making smart plays. Arkansas’s secondary is quick and can stay with receivers in man coverage and move to the ball quickly while in zone coverage. If they have the run game going strong, this can draw in Arkansas’s safeties and set up an explosive downfield play. Consistently scoring on drives will be a huge key for the Vols because…
Arkansas will most likely hold on to the ball for as long as possible. Everyone in the country knows about Tennessee’s offensive tempo. They move so quickly that it is hard to get replays during their drives. This means long drives by Arkansas’s offense to keep the ball out of Tennessee’s hands. The Volunteer defense needs to make these drives as short as possible by creating turnovers and 3-and-out drives. The first part is winning the line, one of the Vol’s best traits. In the Arkansas and Texas A&M game, the Aggies front 7 constantly put pressure on the QB, which resulted in very short yardage gained. It also pushed Green out of the pocket and to throw inaccurately on the run.
If Green can stay in the pocket, the Tennessee secondary might have their first real test. Arkansas has some explosive receivers, such as #2 Andrew Armstrong, Green’s primary target. Tennessee has yet to see many downfield attempts, so we have not gotten a great look at their abilities yet.
Final Notes
With Tennessee coming off a bye week, we should see a team that is fresher mentally and physically. They have had more time to prepare for their second conference game of the year, so we should be in for a good showing. The atmosphere should be electric as Arkansas has elected to do a “stripe-out” game in their night game against the Vols, with kickoff at 7:30 pm EST.