Old habits die hard in Arkansas' loss to No. 12 Tennessee

A change in leadership from Sam Pittman to Bobby Petrino didn’t change the outcome on the field on Saturday, as the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-4, 0-2 SEC) lost another one-score game to the No. 12 Tennessee Volunteers (5-1, 2-1 SEC) at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Saturday.
It is worth noting that this one-score loss differed from the previous two the Hogs have had this season, as Arkansas scored responded to Tennessee’s 24 unanswered points with 14 of its own, which cut a 17-point lead to just three.
But the usual suspects that have led to the Hogs’ demise over and over this season showed up yet again.
Slow second half starts offensively
As has been the case this season, the Razorbacks exited the locker room at halftime and the offense fell flat on its face.
“They made some good adjustments in the third quarter that hurt us being able to continue to run the ball,” Interim head coach Bobby Petrino said postgame. “Probably too stubborn with (running the ball) 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.”
The Hogs never trailed in the first half. The offense struck first with an 11-yard run on an option play from quarterback Taylen Green, then Scott Starzyk split the uprights from 28 yards toward the end of the first quarter. Mike Washington Jr. added a touchdown on the ground as well.
The second half, however, played out as several other games have this year. Arkansas didn’t score in the third quarter and let Tennessee go on a scoring rampage that pushed the lead out to 34-17 with 13:14 left in the game.
It wasn’t until 8:17 left in the game that the Hogs started to claw back. Green threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to tight end Rohan Jones, and then followed that up with a 12-yard strike to Kam Shanks.
That cut the lead to just three, 34-31, with a little under three minutes left. The Hogs had two timeouts, but the defense couldn’t get a stop and the Volunteers were able to run out the clock.
Fumbles, fumbles, fumbles
Just the thought of putting the ball on the turf is enough to send an Arkansas fan into a tizzy. Two of the Hogs’ losses this season have come because of late-game fumbles (both at Ole Miss and at Memphis) and while it wasn’t one specific fumble that did them in today, it played a part.
Four separate times the Razorbacks coughed up the ball, and three times the Vols pounced on it. Interestingly, Tennessee was only able to get seven points out of all three of those fumbles, but each represented a lost opportunity to put points on the board.
The last fumble was the most costly and came at the hands of Green at the Hogs’ 19-yard line. It set up a four-play, 19-yard touchdown drive that put Tennessee up 34-17 with a little over 13 minutes left.
“We’ve got to understand that when we’re running to the left that we just got to tuck the ball away and take what we get, not try to make that throw with the pressure on him,” Petrino said. “So we talked about that on the sideline. We work hard all the time on ball security, and you know that was a heck of a football game out there.
“The speed of their defense and the collisions and the physicality of the game caused a couple of those fumbles. It was, you know, you got to give (Tennessee) credit too, because they ran fast to the football.”
What’s next for Arkansas football?
The Razorbacks’ road trip was a short one, and they’ll return back to Reynolds Razorback Stadium for a three-game home stand that includes matchups against Texas A&M, Auburn and Mississippi State in back-to-back-to-back weeks.
Petrino isn’t happy with the result on the scoreboard this weekend, but he saw some things he liked out of his team.
“I mean their toughness really. I thought they stuck together and then showed toughness and showed some grit,” Petrino said. “Because when things aren’t going good, there’s been times you can turn the other way and give in a little bit. But they showed tremendous grit, tremendous toughness and pride in each other. The enthusiasm we had out on the field helped everybody.”
Arkansas will host Texas A&M on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT and the game will air on ESPN. Razorback legend Darren McFadden will be honored during the game, as well.