By Jay Berry
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman had lost six straight games against ranked opponents entering Saturday’s game.
Arkansas earned its best win under Sam Pittman’s tenure as head coach on Saturday night, upsetting No. 4 Tennessee 19-14 in Fayetteville. It marked the program’s first home win over an AP top-five team since Nov. 13, 1999, when the Razorbacks beat the then-No. 3 Volunteers, 28-24, also in Fayetteville.
Arkansas fell behind 14-3 midway through the 3rd quarter, then scored 16 unanswered points to pull off the epic victory in front of a home crowd starving for a moment like this.
Saturday night saw the sixth-largest crowd in University of Arkansas history. The fans were loud, dressed for a stripe-out, and the atmosphere was electric—not just after the game, but throughout it. Sam Pittman commented on the wild environment during his post-game press conference.
“The fans won the game for us,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said. “Our fans got us four false starts, and it helped us tremendously.”
A stellar defensive performance led the Razorbacks, slowing down Tennessee’s high-powered offense. Sam Pittman was pleased with both the game plan and its execution.
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“The game plan, came in Sunday night, T-Will (defensive coordinator Travis Williams) talked about what he thought he wanted to do. And we started practicing it on Monday. There were some tweaks and all that. But I think we ran something that they had not seen us run, first of all. Second of all, we ran it real well.”
The offensive line also delivered a strong performance, effectively slowing down Tennessee’s pass rush and helping the Razorbacks run the ball. Arkansas finished with 434 total yards, including 297 through the air and 137 on the ground.
Pittman praised the O-line when talking post-game about the pass protection.
“Man, I was so proud of our offensive line in that aspect. We go through the first half and we had a little empty protection once, (Tennessee) came. They brought two off the edge on us, and Taylen had to scramble out of there. But I just kept saying on the headsets, man, we’re really protecting him well.”
Pittman also expressed his satisfaction with the offensive game plan, which utilized screens— primarily tunnel and flare screens—to slow down Tennessee’s edge defenders.
Quarterback Taylen Green did not finish the game, as he was removed as a precaution from an injury. Redshirt Freshman Malachi Singleton took over at QB, and according to Pittman’s post-game comments, Green’s injury doesn’t seem to be serious.
“Our diagnosis for him was if he wanted to get back in the game, we could, then he got tackled again, and then we just said, Okay, that’s enough. Let’s put Malachi in. Malachi, when he came in, we didn’t have great field position, so Bobby was trying to take care of that along with the field position. So, you know, if Bobby just calls what he wants to call on offense there, we’re usually pretty good. I think it’s part of that was, you know, making sure Malachi, we got a little confidence there.”
Arkansas now sits at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play. While Pittman certainly earned an ice cold beer after last night’s win, there’s still work to be done if they want to build on this momentum. Up next is LSU, with key matchups looming against Ole Miss, Texas, and Missouri.
