Coming off a bye, Tennessee Football revealed numerous concerns in its 19-14 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Vols had numerous offensive woes and gave fans plenty of reasons to be concerned about the rest of the season. Here are five things we learned about Rocky Top’s first loss of the season and what happened to them against the Hogs.
Mistakes by Tennessee Football in pass pro
Arkansas came into this matchup with only 10 sacks in five games. They had four on the night. DeSean Bishop missed one of those blocks. Then John Campbell Jr. had a holding penalty after getting beat at the end of the first half, and Andrej Karic waved off a first down with downfield blocking. Nico Iamaleava also had to quickly get rid of a deep shot, causing an overthrow, due to the Hogs’ pressure.
Nico Iamaleava and Josh Heupel choked
The head coaching and quarterback duo that was supposed to lead Tennessee Football to the promised land made critical mistakes down the stretch. Josh Heupel made huge mistakes, from letting Arkansas score late to not calling more extra protection for Nico Iamaleava. At the same time, Iamaleava fumbled a snap on the final drive and scrambled as time expired. That was a panic move and very revealing.
Run game got going after a bad first half
Dylan Sampson and the interior blocking can’t do it on their own, but they darn near did it. The Vols couldn’t get their offense going in the first half because the run game wasn’t there. In the second half, though, Sampson exploded on the first two drives, which is why he finished with 140 yards, scoring touchdowns on both. Unfortunately for UT, nothing else got going.
Field position, time of possession cost Tennessee Football
Sam Pittman won this game with a style of play straight out of the 1990s. He dominated the time of possession, as the Hogs held the ball for 50 minutes, and he also won on field position. The difference in punting set up Arkansas for a game-winning drive with their backup quarterback, as UT was worn out on defense at that point.
Arkansas got away with Arkansas’ing
Crazy enough, the Hogs showed all signs of doing what they do in the Pittman era, which is failing to cash in despite dominating on the field. They outgained Tennessee Football by over 150 yards in the first half but only led 3-0 thanks to being stopped twice on fourth down and a missed field goal. Then two botched snaps turned a touchdown drive into a field goal drive. Arkansas won despite all that.
