FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas found a way to make No. 15 Tennessee sweat Saturday afternoon, and for much of the game the Razorbacks looked like a team with a real shot to pull off the upset.
They forced turnovers. They played with a lead. They put themselves in position to win at home.
And then, once again, the game slipped away.
The 24-17 loss was loaded with the kind of small victories that can feel encouraging in isolation, especially on defense. But Arkansas is now 17-50 in one-possession games since 2012, and moral victories do little for a program that has dropped 14 straight SEC games, including the first three under new coach Ryan Silverfield.
There was real fight in the Razorbacks’ defense. Outside of one disastrous half in Salt Lake City against Utah, it has generally done enough to keep Arkansas in games.
Against Tennessee, the unit delivered three turnovers, four tackles for loss, three hurries, three pass breakups and a sack. Through three quarters, that was enough to keep the Razorbacks in front and tied late in the fourth.
But by the final 13 minutes, Arkansas looked spent.
The bigger problem was what the offense kept leaving behind. The Razorbacks forced three Tennessee turnovers and turned them into just seven points. That’s the kind of waste that buries a team already fighting uphill.
The same issues kept showing up: negative plays, penalties and an offense that just couldn’t stay on schedule. Arkansas went 2-of-11 on third down against Tennessee, pushing its conversion rate against SEC opponents to 9-for-32 through three conference games. Seven of those third downs were third-and-10 or longer, and not one of them was converted.
That kind of futility is hard to survive in the SEC, especially for an offense that entered Saturday averaging fewer than 100 rushing yards per game.
There were at least some signs of life. Arkansas put together 10 straight called runs in the second half and had Tennessee on its heels.
Cam Settles ran for 50 yards on eight carries. Braylen Russell had some encouraging snaps too, including a 29-yard run that was wiped out by a holding penalty.
KJ Jackson did enough to keep the defense honest, but late in the game he never really found his rhythm, finishing 3-of-8 for 30 yards and taking a sack.
Even then, the offensive issues weren’t just about the players on the field. The coaching decisions drew plenty of scrutiny.
For the first time all season, Arkansas had a chance to control the outcome and play to win. Instead, Silverfield chose to trust the defense after Tennessee had just ripped off 94 yards in four plays and scored a touchdown. With three timeouts and 1:45 left, the decision was to punt.
Analytics say punt.
That call did not work out, and there were other decisions in the second half that made life harder than it needed to be. Russell didn’t get a carry in the fourth quarter even though Tennessee had trouble stopping him earlier. Settles, Arkansas’ leading rusher, also didn’t touch the ball on the final two offensive possessions.
Jackson’s struggles with batted balls only added to the frustration. At 6-foot-4, he had passes knocked down at the line throughout the day, and Tim Cramsey’s offense never seemed to adjust enough. Situational football matters, and Arkansas too often looked like a team overcomplicating things instead of leaning into what was working.
The talent is there to keep games close. The execution hasn’t been.
And until that changes, Arkansas will keep finding new ways to lose games it had every chance to win.
In Other News...
Arkansas Heads To Vanderbilt With One Bigger Problem Looming
Arkansas left its game against No. 15 Tennessee with something it has been searching for much of the season: a performance that felt competitive from start to finish and offered a clearer glimpse of what the Razorbacks can be when things are clicking. Even in a late loss, it stood out as their best showing of the year, the kind of night that can steady a teams confidence heading into the next stretch of SEC play.
Now comes Vanderbilt, a matchup that looks manageable if Arkansas keeps trending in the right direction. The bigger challenge may be less about the opponent and more about what the Razorbacks are still trying to become, as a roster full of new faces and a staff still taking shape works to build cohesion fast enough to turn one encouraging effort into something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Fans Still Wont Agree On Silverfields Late Punt Logic
Ryan Silverfields late-game punt against Tennessee is still the kind of call Arkansas fans are replaying long after the final whistle. Faced with a fourth-and-10 situation, the Razorbacks coach chose field position over a risky try at the line to gain, and the decision immediately lit up social media and the broader fan base watching a game that already had enough tension on the sideline.
Silverfield said the choice came down to the distance, Arkansas struggles on previous third-down snaps, and the danger of handing Tennessee a short field and an easy path to points. He also made it clear the calculus would have changed with a shorter situation, which only sharpens the debate for fans who wanted more aggression in the moment and others who saw the punt as the safer football call. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Is Getting The Kind Of SEC Respect Fans Crave
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Jordan Smith Jr. and Billy Richmond III also landed preseason All-SEC recognition, with Smith on the Second Team and Richmond on the Third Team, a sign that opposing coaches and voters see more than just upside in this roster. The next checkpoints come quickly enough, with exhibition games on the schedule before SEC play begins Jan. 2 against Missouri, giving Arkansas an early chance to see whether the hype matches the ranking. [Read more 🡒]