2024-10-06 13:35:03
Tennessee football dropped its first game of the season 19-14 at Arkansas on Saturday night.
Vols’ quarterback Nico Iamaleava struggled and had 158 passing yards with no touchdowns. Dylan Sampson had 138 rushing yards and two touchdowns to lead the Vols’ rushing attack.
Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green threw for 266 yards but had to leave the game in the second half with an injury. He was replaced by Malachi Singleton, who ran in the game-winning touchdown.
The Razorbacks had a long 16-play 74-yard drive that took 9:12 off the clock. However, the Vols’ defense held the Razorbacks to a field goal and were down 3-0 with 5:48 left in the first quarter. The Vols then went three-and-out thanks to some penalties by the offensive line, but the Razorbacks turned it over on downs and failed to take early control of the game.
The Vols continued to do nothing on offense, but still only trailed 3-0 due to a fourth down stop by the defense when Arkansas was deep in Tennessee territory. The defense would continue to hold up for Tennessee and got another break when Arkansas missed a 44-yard field goal and failed to put any more distance between themselves and the Vols.
It was the worst offensive half of head coach Josh Heupel’s time at Tennessee. The Vols scored no points in the first half for the first time under Heupel and only had 76 yards compared to 222 for the Razorbacks. It was the first time in Heupel’s 80 career games as a head coach that he was held scoreless in the first half. Tennessee also only had 15 rushing yards at halftime and was getting dominated in the time of possession battle, 9:26 to 20:34. The Vols’ defense was the only reason they were still in the game.
The start of the third quarter was exactly what the Vols needed. They took the ball 73 yards and scored the first touchdown of the game with a short Sampson run. The biggest play of the drive was a 53-yard run by Sampson that finally gave the Vols an explosive play and they led 7-3. After a stop, the Vols scored a again to take a 14-3 lead with 8:19 left in the third quarter.
The Razorbacks finally found the endzone with their own eight-play 75 yard touchdown drive capped off by a Ja’Quinden Jackson touchdown run. A running into the kicker penalty extended an Arkansas drive that ended in a field goal to cut the lead to 14-13 with 12:08 to play in the game. Green had to leave the game with an injury he sustained on that drive.
Tennessee couldn’t not put the hame away on offense and gave the ball back to Arkansas and backup quarterback Singleton. He was able to get the Razorbacks into the endzone with his legs and give them a 19-14 lead with 1:17 to play after a failed two point conversion.
The Vols could not score on their ensuing drive and the Razorbacks held on to win.
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