FAYETTEVILLE — It wasn’t all bad news for Tennessee on Saturday.
Sure, the No. 4 Volunteers lost their bid for an undefeated season by blowing a two-score lead and falling to Arkansas 19-14 as two-touchdown favorites despite coming off an open date.
At least they’ll be heading back to Knoxville with an extra $250,000 in their pocket.
That is what the Razorbacks will be fined by the SEC for their fans rushing the field following the upset – and, for the first time in UA history, that money will go straight to the Tennessee athletic department.
It’s actually the second time Arkansas has been penalized for fans storming the playing area since the conference restructured its fine system in the summer of 2023. However, its $100,000 fine for rushing the court after beating Duke at Bud Walton Arena last November went to the SEC’s post-graduate scholarship fund because the Blue Devils were a non-conference foe.
The rule is in place for the health and safety of fans, players, coaches and other personnel, but also to avoid situations like what apparently unfolded Saturday. Video captured by one Arkansas football fan shows Tennessee defensive lineman Omari Thomas – whose father played at Arkansas State – shoving a fan as he attempted to get to the locker room.
Thomas has since apologized:
Moving forward, field/court stormings will result in a $500,000 fine for the Razorbacks.
Under the previous SEC policy, which was adopted in 2004 and modified in 2015, Arkansas was fined $25,000 for rushing the field after snapping its 17-game SEC losing streak with a 17-0 win over LSU in 2014, $100,000 for rushing the field after beating Texas in 2021 and $250,000 for beat No. 1 Auburn at Bud Walton Arena in 2022.
Another T-Will Masterpiece
The biggest winner in the Arkansas vs Tennessee game was Travis Williams.
Arkansas’ defensive coordinator deployed an excellent game plan to limit the Volunteers’ explosive offense on Saturday.
Coming into the day ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring and No. 3 in total offense, Tennessee mustered only 14 points on 332 yards against the Razorbacks — well below its season averages of 54.0 points and 565.8 yards.
The first half was particularly impressive for Arkansas’ defense, as it held the Vols to only 76 yards and pitched a shutout. It marked the first time under fourth-year coach Josh Heupel that Tennessee was held scoreless in the opening 30 minutes of a game.
The Volunteers eventually got into a bit of a groove in the third quarter, with 75- and 60-yard touchdown drives. The first of those was highlighted by a 53-yard run and the latter was aided by a pair of personal foul penalties on the Razorbacks. Outside of that, Williams’ unit was nearly flawless.
For the most part, Arkansas’ defense has played well all year. In fact, it’s been better than its national rankings of 33rd in scoring defense (19.2 ppg) and 39th in total defense (321.5 ypg) may indicate, if you account for the bad situations it’s been put in by the offense.
Fans Help Arkansas Football Pull Off Upset
The announced attendance for the Arkansas vs Tennessee game was 75,573, which ranks sixth in Razorback Stadium history.
Even though there was a smattering of orange, the planned stripe-out was a success and the crowd stayed until the end, culminating in the aforementioned field storming. It was a well-deserved celebration, as the fans seemed to actually have an impact on the game.
Tennessee was flagged four times for pre-snap penalties — three false starts and a snap infraction — and had to burn a timeout early in the third quarter to avoid a delay of game. That left the Vols with only two timeouts on their final drive.
“The fans won the game for us,” Pittman said afterward. “Our atmosphere today was like any of the elite university programs. Nobody had nothing on us today, and that was the fans and the facilities and everything like that. This was a big, big, big-time atmosphere for college football, and our fans made it happen for us. I appreciate them.”
Petrino’s Diverse Attack
It didn’t result in many points because of multiple missed opportunities, but offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino devised a plan that dominated Tennessee’s vaunted defense for much of the first half.
While failing to score more than 3 points put a damper on it, the most impressive aspect of Petrino’s attack was its diversity.
The Razorbacks started the game in 20-personnel (two running backs, no tight ends) and also utilized 12-personnel (one RB, two TEs), 10-personnel (one RB, no TEs, four receivers) and a various iterations of their jumbo package, which featured a fullback and sometimes a sixth offensive lineman.
During its 16-play opening drive, which reached the 1-yard line before a false start ultimately led to a 20-yard field goal, Arkansas used 20 different players. All four healthy scholarship running backs, four different tight ends and five different wide receivers saw action on that possession alone.
“To be honest with you, we didn’t have Luke (Hasz) and didn’t have Tyrus (Washington) almost the whole week,” Pittman said. “Game-planning wise was a little tough. So I thought it was really, really good. … I thought Bobby and his staff did a wonderful job of getting guys ready with limited tight ends available.”
Special Teams Love
It’d be easy to see another missed field goal and write it off as another bad day for Arkansas’ special teams, but that phase of the game was probably a net positive for the Razorbacks.
On that missed kick, a 44-yard attempt that went wide left, kicker Kyle Ramsey injured his groin. That forced backup Matthew Shipley, the Hawaii transfer who was widely projected to win the job, into his first action of the season.
He didn’t have to do anything too crazy, but did make an extra point and a critical 23-yard field goal that pulled Arkansas within one in the fourth quarter. In the locker room after the game, Sam Pittman went out of his way to recognize Shipley.
“I usually don’t do much of that, but kid came in there and kicked the field goal and made it 14-13,” Pittman said. “That’s big, to get us into a field goal situation. A lot of guys quit. A lot of guys tuck their head and go, ‘Oh, I’m not playing.’ He doesn’t. He went out there and kept a great attitude and helped us win a football game.”
Punter Devin Bale also deserves a shoutout. A week after field position killed the Razorbacks against Texas A&M, he delivered a monster 66-yard punt to flip the field late in the game.
With the Vols starting at their own 20, it gave Arkansas’ defense a chance to force a quick three-and-out and set the offense up at the 41-yard line for what proved to be the game-winning drive.
Bale also had a 65-yard punt that the coverage team couldn’t track down before it bounced in the end zone for a touchback. Arguably his biggest play of the game, though, was a punt that didn’t even count.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Bale booted a 49-yard punt to cap what would have been a three-and-out. However, Tennessee’s Jordan Ross ran into him and Bale sold it, falling to the ground. It may have been called regardless, but he drew the roughing the kicker penalty that wasn’t called on Oklahoma State earlier in the season. Arkansas turned the second chance into points with the aforementioned Shipley field goal.
Armstrong Continues Climbing the Record Book
For the third time in five games this season, Andrew Armstrong eclipsed the century mark.
The super senior finished with 132 yards on nine receptions against Tennessee. After missing the opener against UAPB, he’s had at least five catches and 47 yards in every game, including going over 100 yards against Oklahoma State and UAB.
Saturday’s performance also continued his steady rise up the record books, as he now ranks 21st in UA history for both career receiving yards (1,316) and receptions (94).
Armstrong moved past Peyton Hillis (1,195), Emanuel Smith (1,235), Mike Woods (1,248), Jared Cornelius (1,265), Tracy Caldwell (1,269) and Jim Benton (1,303) on the career yards list. The 6’4″ wideout needs just four more to jump Jim Hodge and crack the top 20.
In terms of receptions, Armstrong is actually tied with Gary Anderson and also needs four more to crack the top 20, which would mean surpassing James Shibest.
It’s shaping up to be a historic season for the Dallas native who began his career at the Division II level with Texas A&M-Commerce.
Heading into Arkansas’ first open date, Armstrong is second in the SEC in both receptions (38) and receiving yards (552), trailing only Ole Miss’ Tre Harris (52 for 885). Both of those marks are inside the top 15 nationally, as well. He’s tied for 12th in receptions and ranks 11th in yards.
If he maintains his current pace, Armstrong would finish the regular season with 84 receptions and 1,214 yards. That’d have him within striking distance in a potential bowl game of Cobi Hamilton’s records of 90 and 1,335 set in 2012.
There is one glaring thing missing from his resume this year, though: He has yet to find the end zone. There are 27 total players in the FBS with at least 470 receiving yards and he’s the only one without a touchdown. In fact, each of the other 26 players have multiple scores.
Arkansas Football Availability Report
The Razorbacks were without 11 scholarship players, by Best of Arkansas Sports’ count.
Included in that group are two who have quit the team — long snapper Eli Stein and wide receiver Jaedon Wilson — and a trio of freshmen who are out for the season because of injuries: linebacker Justin Logan (shoulder), defensive back Jaden Allen (knee) and offensive lineman Zuri Madison (ACL).
There were no surprises in the other six, as they were all deemed out in the SEC’s official availability report. Here’s a list of those players:
- CB Jaylon Braxton (tendinitis)
- DB Miguel Mitchell (undisclosed)
- RB Rodney Hill (undisclosed)
- OL Patrick Kutas (back)
- TE Andreas Paaske (concussion)
- WR Khafre Brown (undisclosed)
One player who did return to action after missing the previous three games was defensive back Hudson Clark. Although a backup safety who also played some nickel the first two weeks of the season, the sixth-year super senior lined up for a few reps at cornerback against Tennessee.
Other Arkansas vs Tennessee Tidbits
- With the win, the Razorbacks improved to 8-32 (.200) when unranked and facing an AP top-5 foe. Three of those victories have come against Tennessee. Arkansas beat the No. 4 Volunteers 25-24 back in 1992 and then took down a No. 3 Tennessee team 28-24 in 1999.
- The Razorbacks have now won four straight games against the Volunteers, beating them in 2011, 2015, 2020 and now 2024.
- Arkansas’ rotating team captains on Saturday included a pair of former Volunteers — center Addison Nichols and nickel back Doneiko Slaughter — as well as kicker Kyle Ramsey and linebacker Anthony Switzer.
- Bentonville native Chas Nimrod – who chose the Vols over Arkansas in the Class of 2022 – played 16 snaps at wide receiver for Tennessee and caught one pass for 11 yards.
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