Tennessee football heads to Fayetteville on Saturday night to face a Arkansas in its second straight road game before returning home for the rest of October.
Each week, Rocky Top Insider will take you behind the scenes with a question and answer with a media member who covers Tennessee’s opponent.
*Some answers are slightly shortened or altered for clarity
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What were your expectations for Arkansas entering the season? How have they matched them to this point?
Coming in, I had them pegged at 5-7. I thought that there was a path to six wins. I didn’t think that was entirely outside the realm of possibility. But I also thought if things went poorly I could see them going 4-8 again. I felt like that was kind of the range but I settled on 5-7.
I could still see them getting to six wins. Not beating Texas A&M last weekend kind of lessens the wiggle room that they have for that because that was one of their most winnable games. They have three wins now and still have Louisiana Tech on their schedule and a road trip to Mississippi State. I wouldn’t chalk that up to a win 100% but if they win those two games that gets you five. Tennessee is going to be tough. Ole Miss is going to be tough— though maybe not as tough after seeing them against Kentucky. Texas comes to Fayetteville. You have to go to Missouri. LSU comes to Fayetteville. Maybe that’s a winnable game. I still like my 5-7 preseason prediction but they have played better than maybe I thought they would play to this point.
They’ve been a little bit better than I expected but I don’t think it’s enough to change my win-loss prediction.
On how would you assess Taylon Green and the passing game’s performance so far?
Very, very inconsistent. There’s probably plenty of blame to go around. Taylon Green’s accuracy is up-and-down. He’ll make some throws that make you think he can play in the NFL, but there’s also throws where he just misses a guy. I think back to the double overtime period against Oklahoma State. Arkansas should have scored a touchdown really early on in that possession. Had a wide open wheel route and he underthrew him. First play of the season he underthrew a deep ball that should have been a touchdown. There’s been some accuracy issues off-and-on and they’ve come to a head these last few games where he’s been either right under or right over 50% completion.
He goes to Andrew Armstrong quite a bit. I think they need to figure out ways to get others involved. Luke Hasz at tight end is a guy even though he’s dealing with a back injury right now. Isaac TeSlaa emerged last week (five catches, 120 yards and a touchdown). Maybe he’s a guy they can get the ball to more moving forward.
Protection has been a major issue which has thrown off the passing game. Taylon Green is always running for his life. Some of that is because offensive line, tight ends or running backs aren’t picking up blitzers. I think some of it is also Taylon Green still struggling with his pocket presence. It’s still very much a work in progress and inconsistent when it comes to throwing the ball.
On what’s made Arkansas’ rushing attack so effective this season?
They’ve been much improved over last year. Last year they couldn’t run the ball to save their life. It was rough. This year, they’ve been much better in terms of opening up holes and running back Ja’Quinden Jackson has been phenomenal. Even when there hasn’t been holes for him to run through, he’s been able to get yards for Arkansas. He’s a physical runner but also has some really good moves and shiftiness to him. That’s good. It also helps when you have a guy like Taylen Green at quarterback who is a threat to run the ball. That’s helped significantly. KJ Jefferson was a threat to run the ball as well but Taylen is a little different. KJ wanted to run through you. Taylen he can hit the edge and out run you. When they run the RPO well and make the right reads they’ve been able to gain some yards. It’s been a mix of everyone being improved in that area coupled with Bobby Petrino’s scheme.
On what are the strengths and weaknesses of Arkansas’ defense?
They’ve been really good at stopping the run. Bottling it up. In the pass game they’ve been solid. The defense as a whole has been really solid. Maybe even better than the statistics show. They’ve been put in some bad spots due to turnovers. They’re really strong against the run. They did really good against Ollie Gordan at Oklahoma State and did a good job containing Jarquez Hunter against Auburn. They did a really good job against Texas A&M’s Le’Veon Moss until the fourth quarter and I think they just wore down. They were asked to do so much.
The depth is a concern. Texas A&M’s go ahead touchdown drive came against the backup defensive line. It was noticeable. There was a drop off from the first to second unit. That’s a weakness. And they’re still susceptible to missed assignments that lead to big plays. One guy messes up and it goes 60, 70 yards. We’ve seen that a couple of times this year.
They’re a pretty solid unit.
On what is a key or a couple keys for Arkansas to pull the upset on Saturday night?
They’re going to have to protect Taylen Green. Which I don’t have a ton of confidence in against Tennessee. Maybe they can scheme something up and get those issues figured out. If they can protect Taylen Green and he can be accurate when he’s asked to throw the ball, I think that would be key. He just needs to be accurate enough to keep Tennessee honest. That was what killed them against Texas A&M. The run game was totally ineffective.
On the other side of the ball, limit explosive plays. Limit those missed assignments that have bit them. That’s a major key.
I also have to mention special teams. There have been really good moments for Arkansas’ special teams and really bad moments. They’ve been shaky at kicker. It’s not like last year when Arkansas had Cam Little who is now with the Jaguars. Arkansas has to get points when they can against a defense like Tennessee’s and then the other aspect is to limit the return game. They may have burned their fakes with two last week, but maybe have something special dialed up. If you’re going to upset the No. 4 team in the county, you might need something a little special. Maybe get something on special teams that can steal you some points.
Final score prediction?
I’ll say Arkansas covers the spread but mostly because Tennessee builds a lead and sits on it. Runs the ball and just tries to control the clock. I think the final score maybe ends up being a bit closer than the game actually was.
Tennessee 31, Arkansas 21
