Arkansas offense: Hogs hang 431 yards with ZERO turnovers on SEC’s top-rated defense in 19-14 comeback win over No. 4 Tennessee

By Kevin McPherson

For the second consecutive game the offense failed to score at least 20 points, but Arkansas was good enough by committee — that included backups at quarterback, running back, and field goal kicker figuring prominently — as the Razorbacks stiff-armed injuries to roll up 431 yards with ZERO turnovers against the SEC’s top-ranked defense in a 19-14 come-from-behind upset win over 4th-ranked Tennessee on Saturday at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

The Football Hogs (4-2, 2-1 SEC) moved the ball well with chances to score throughout the game, but self-inflicted wounds left the team leading only 3-0 at halftime and trailing 14-3 late in the third quarter before Arkansas came alive to score 16 unanswered points — two touchdowns and a field goal spanning its last five possessions of the game — in overcoming an 11-point second-half deficit for the win.

The team’s second and final touchdown, which eventually proved to be the game-winner, came with just over a minute remaining in the contest. And it may have seemed improbable given the offense at that point was down to the aforementioned backups at quarterback (Malachi Singleton), running back (freshman workhorse Braylen Russell), and field goal kicker (Matthew Shipley) all due to injuries suffered by starters Taylen Green, Ja’Quinden Jackson, and Kyle Ramsey.

Singleton capped off a 4-play, 59-yard drive with a quarterback option-read-keeper into the end zone as he sprinted right before turning up-field and plunging across the goal line for an 11-yard touchdown that put the Hogs ahead for good, 19-14, as Arkansas’ two-point attempt failed with the Volunteers set to take possession of the ball on the ensuing kickoff with 1:17 left in the game. Singleton began the drive with a 13-yard pass to receiver Isaiah Satengna that moved the team into Tennessee territory, and that play was followed by back-to-back runs of 24 yards and 11 yards by Russell to give the Hogs 1st-and-10 at the Vols’ 11-yard-line, which set up Singleton’s scoring run on the next snap.

On its final possession of the game, Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) used a 42-yard deep-strike pass play to move to Arkansas’ 25-yard line with 35 seconds remaining, but like it had done all night long except for the Vols’ two scoring drives the Hogs’ defense bowed up to keep the visitors out of the end zone while preserving the Arkansas win.

“Tennessee has a very physical team,” fifth-year Arkasnas coach Sam Pittman said after the game. “They came into the game No. 1 in offense, No. 1 in defense. Very good football team. Our coaches did a wonderful job preparing our guys, making them believe that we can go win tonight. These guys are happy, they’re not surprised.

“If we have the same amount of turnovers, we can play with anybody. The two games that we’ve lost to this point, we had more turnovers than what we got. Our coaches did a great job of making them believe we have a really good football team. We can compete if we take care of the football and we try to tackle well and play smart. We did.”

Singleton first entered the game in the fourth quarter facing a high-pressure situation as he inherited a 1st-and-goal at the Tennessee 8-yard line with Arkansas trailing 14-10 with 14:15 remaining. On the previous play while completing a perfectly thrown ball for 30 yards to veteran receiver Andrew Armstrong that set the Hogs up at the Vols’ 15-yard line, Green was hit in his his lower legs by a Tennessee defensive lineman. The personal-foul penalty called on the play tacked on half-the-distance-goal yardage for Arkansas to set up that 1st-and-goal from the 8, but after laboring on the ground Green was helped off the field and gave way to Singleton, who was unable to move the Hogs any closer than the 5-yard-line in three plays. That’s when the Hogs’ Shipley — who replaced Ramsey after an injury the starter suffered during a missed field goal in the first half — came on to boot a 23-yard field goal to pull the Hogs within 14-13 with 12:06 to play.

Green tried to play again on Arkansas’ next offensive possession after the Hogs’ defense stopped the Vols, but he came up limping after being knocked to the ground on a rollout pass attempt that was incomplete, giving way once more (and for the remainder of the game) to Singleton, who had two drives stall sandwiched in between the aforementioned field goal and touchdown drives that he helped engineer.

Singleton finished the game 2-of-3 passing for 31 yards and  4 carries for 12 yards and 1 touchdown rushing.

“My emotions are definitely running high,” Singleton said after the win. “Just to get a quick screen to get me settled in, something quick just to get everybody calm, get a first down and move the sticks, I think it settled down everybody. The whole offense and kept us rolling throughout the whole drive.”

Green had his best passing game of the season in terms of accuracy as he was 19-of-27 (70.4%) for 266 yards, and he captained Arkansas’ first three scoring drives of the game — 16 plays and 74 yards capped by a Ramsay 20-yard field goal on the opening drive of the game; 8 plays for 75 yards capped by Jackson’s 2-yard touchdown run that answered the Vols’ back-to-back touchdown drives to pull Arkansas within 14-10 with 4:38 left in the third quarter; and the aforementioned field goal drive that started late in the third quarter and ended early in the fourth period after moving the ball 75 yards in 10 plays with Singleton relieving the injured Green on the final three plays).

Green was especially good in traditional pocket passing, something he struggled with through the team’s first five games of the season. The Hogs’ offensive line fared better in pass protection than it did in last week’s 21-17 loss to then-No. 24 Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas.

“I think Taylen, we’ll see (regarding the severity of his injury moving),” Pittman said. “Obviously it wasn’t as bad for us not to ask him how he felt. Our diagnosis for him was he could get back in the game if he wanted, he could, but he got tackled again and then we just said, ok, that’s enough, let’s put Malachi in. Malachi, when he came in, we didn’t have great field position, so Bobby (Petrino) was trying to take care of that along with the field position. Bobby just calls what he wants to call on offense. We’re usually pretty good. I think part of that with Malachi was make sure we’ve got some confidence there. Never had to punt, and then the last two drives, he was phenomenal. He ran it very, very well. He scored a touchdown there to go ahead. He’s been here a long time and hadn’t got to play. To go in there and score the winning touchdown with the help of ten other guys has to be really fulfilling for him. I’m really happy for him.”

Russell had his most productive game as a Hog, leading the team with 62 rushing yards — including 35 on that game-winning touchdown drive — on 8 carries.

Jackson finished with 57 hard-fought rushing yards and his lone touchdown on 20 carries to go with 2 receptions for 33 yards before leaving the game for good in the fourth quarter due to what appeared to be an upper-body injury. He now has 10 rushing touchdowns on the season — that’s one more than Arkansas had as a team all of last season — and he has scored at least one touchdown in each of Arkansas’ first six games, becoming the first Hog rusher to find the end zone in six consecutive games since Knile Davis accomplished that in 2010. The commonality in the achievement for both players is Petrino, the first-year Arkansas offensive coordinator and former Arkansas head coach (2008-2011).

Coming off a one-game suspension, junior running back Rashod Dubinion chipped in 10 yards rushing on 2 ccarries to go with 1 recpetion for 18 yards.

Armstrong continued to make his case as the best receiver in the SEC as he became only the fifth Hog pass-catcher ever to record 100 or more yards receiving against Tennessee, finishing with 9 receptions for 132 yards in the Saturday win over the Vols. It was his third game of 100 or more receiving yards on the season as he extended two streaks — consecutive games with at least one catch (now 33 straight contests) as well as consecutive games with multiple catches (now 28 straight outings).

Sategna piled up 72 yards receiving on 5 receptions. He also had 2 punt returns for 13 yards.

As a team, Arkansas came in with the league’s fourth-best offense in total scrimmage yards per game (495.0) and finished with 431 yards (297 passing/receiving plus 134 yards rushing on 44 carries) to go with 2 rushing touchdowns while converting on 6-of-15 third-down plays as part of 23 first downs in the game. The Vols’ defense came in ranked No. 1 in the SEC, yielding only 7.0 points and 176.0 yards per outing.

Although the Hogs’ offense failed to generate more than three points for the better part of three  quarters against Tennessee, Arkansas did not suffer a turnover for the first time since its 70-0, season-opening win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in August.

However, the Hogs did struggle with a few pre-snap offensive penalties, a missed field goal, and a 1-of-3 conversion rate on fourth downs that included a dropped would-be touchdown pass (Green-to-Sategna from 29 yards out) and a would-be touchdown to wide-open receiver Isaac Tesla, both coming in the first half when Arkansas left at least 17 points off the board.