What Went Wrong: A Breakdown of Tennessee’s Loss to Arkansas
Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics
By Tucker Harlin
This piece is the first I’ve ever posted on a Tennessee loss, and hopefully I’m not posting too many more in the future.
Between Voluntary Reaction, Neutral Zone, and The Blitz I’ve had plenty of time to discuss everything that went against the Vols in Fayetteville. But I’d feel bad if I left the loss behind without getting my thoughts across to you on this brilliant medium, so that’s what I’m going to do.
This a phase by phase examination of the problems that led to Tennessee’s loss at Arkansas.
OFFENSE
Josh Heupel’s normally high-flying offense is the area fans should express the most concern about coming out of the weekend. The Vols left Fayetteville scoring just 14 points, tied for the second lowest output under Heupel with the 2021 loss at Florida.
So, what went wrong? The answer is many facets of the offense were functioning at suboptimal levels.
Initially, some of the discombobulation is a result of sitting for nine minutes of game time to start the night. The best defense against Tennessee can be offense, although that wasn’t proven as an effective strategy until Florida and Missouri tried it in 2023.
When Tennessee’s offense finally saw the field, it went backwards. The first half ended with just 51 total yards of offense for the Vols, two of which went for negative yardage with sacks and penalties.
Outside of a quarterback, the offensive line is the position group where you can’t afford bad play in order to piece together a successful season. We essentially spent an entire week talking up the offense because we knew Lance Heard was returning from injury.
While none up front are safe from criticism, Heard was the biggest letdown on the offensive line for the Vols. Between all of the pre-snap penalties and blown assignments, Heard fielded the roughest performance in the bunch among veterans John Campbell and Javontez Spraggins Saturday.
The next concern should be about the receivers, and this is for two reasons.
First, the deepest group on offense is suddenly not healthy. Bru McCoy needed his hand wrapped in an air cast for an injury he suffered after making a catch.
Dont’e Thornton was on the receiving end of friendly fire from Squirrel White on the next play. Thornton returned to the game, but he’s definitely not 100%. White is by far the most injured of the three, injuring a shoulder trying to catch a low throw in the fourth quarter.
Oddly enough, the second problem with the receivers could actually be their depth going into the season. The offense clicked when there were two to three players with defined roles in the system in 2021 and 2022.
In 2021, Cedric Tillman was the top target and 50/50, Velus Jones was the slot man, and JaVonta Payton was the deep threat. Tillman was slowed in 2022 by injury, but Jalin Hyatt slid into that top spot with McCoy as a bruiser and White as a deep threat.
So, what are the “designations” of this group in 2024? I don’t know the answer to that question, and that’s something this group needs to answer quickly.
The next component fans walk away furious with on the offensive end is the play calling and clock management in the second half.
Tennessee was able to produce a pair of touchdown drives to start the third quarter and set itself up with an opportunity to blow the Razorbacks out.
But the offense returned to the same conservative offensive strategy it employed against Oklahoma a few possessions later. Keep in mind the defense had allowed Arkansas to score its first touchdown by this point.
The lead was much safer against a lackluster offense in Norman than it ever was in Fayetteville.
The Razorbacks knew Tennessee was trying to keep the ball on the ground the rest of the game, so they had prepped to stuff it against an underperforming offensive line.
The tight ends weren’t heavily mixed in like they were against NC State, something vital to attacking a 3-3-5 defense.
Then comes the clock management issue for Tennessee.
The Vols’ third to last possession primarily centered around the rush attack in order to chew off four minutes of game time. But the second to last possession featured two incompletions and only took 45 seconds off the clock, something you can’t afford to do when playing conservative.
The final possession was disastrous in the clock management department.
Nico Iamaleava completed a pass to Dont’e Thornton for 42 yards with 35 seconds remaining. Josh Heupel didn’t call time out and 18 seconds ran off the clock, a decision he admitted he regrets in hindsight.
On 4th and 5 with six seconds remaining, Nico ran out of bounds shy of the line to gain as time expired.
No matter what your angle is, what Nico Iamaleava did on the final play against Arkansas and what Joe Milton did on the final play against Ole Miss are both inexcusable.
I don’t side with anyone who entertains the conversation of Iamaleava being an overrated prospect. In fact, I’d say he’s rated properly.
Quarterback play in all levels of football isn’t stellar at the moment. I’m no Heisman voter, but if I was, my vote is for the running back stacking generational numbers at a Mountain West school right now.
I promise I won’t spew this much about the defense or special teams, but there are issues worth addressing.
DEFENSE
The play of Tennessee’s defense was the best of all three phases in this rough outing.
The Vols were bending without breaking in the first half. Arkansas drove the ball to the Tennessee 34 at minimum on each of its first half possessions and somehow left it with just three points.
Tennessee mitigated much of the damage Taylen Green and Ja’Quinden Jackson could create on the ground. James Pearce had his strongest night of the season, terrorizing Green all night in the backfield.
I’m giving credit where it’s due: Green easily played his best game of the season against Tennessee.
I kept waiting on a fumble or an interception, but Green never let it happen. Many of Green’s passes weren’t contested well enough, but there were situations in which Vol defenders were draped all over Andrew Armstrong and Green fit it in the tight windows.
However, Green’s newfound wizardry doesn’t absolve a few critical mistakes the defense made that resulted in negative momentum swings.
The Razorbacks were pinned on their own goal line on a 3rd and 15 on their third possession of the game. Instead of possibly scoring a safety, Green connected with Jackson on an outlet pass that took the Razorbacks out to around the 30.
The other concerning moment was the first play on the last Arkansas scoring drive.
Tennessee was late getting its eleventh man on the field, and Arkansas snapped the ball. The Vols looked around as if the play was blown dead while Isaiah Sategna picked up 13 yards on a quick pass. This error snowballed with a few Braylen Russell runs to set up the Razorbacks in prime territory.
Overall, 19 points generally doesn’t win you games in modern college football, so the defensive performance stood head and shoulders above the other two phases.
SPECIAL TEAMS
You either discuss special teams for amazing or terrible reasons. It’s the latter with Tennessee in the loss to Arkansas.
General Robert R. Neyland’s sixth maxim reads “Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.” Arkansas had a pair of breaks made in the kicking game.
The first break came on a roughing the punter penalty to extend a drive that resulted in a field goal for the Hogs. Devin Bale embellished the foul to an extent, but Jordan Ross definitely struck him in the head.
The second break didn’t involve a penalty, but it hurt Tennessee far more than the first.
Instead of fielding the punt heading toward him, Squirrel White opted not to touch the ball. The ball rolled another 15-20 yards toward the end zone from the Tennessee 40.
Hindsight will always be 20/20, but that’s a mistake you can’t afford when your offense is engaged in a field position battle. That play is the difference between Jackson Ross pinning Arkansas inside its 20 and Arkansas taking the ball back near midfield.
