Three and Out: Revisiting our questions after Arkansas’ loss to Tennessee

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas football team got closer than it’d gotten at any point against a Power 4 opponent on Saturday, but the result was the same as the Razorbacks (2-4, 0-3 SEC) lost to No. 15 Tennessee 24-17 at Razorback Stadium on Saturday. After a paltry offensive first half, which has been the case all season long, Arkansas showed some signs of life in the third quarter with two straight touchdown drives that heavily featured the run game. The Hogs rushed for 133 yards in the game, a season-high, with the bulk of those rushing yards coming in the third quarter. They were tied with the Volunteers until Tennessee scored to take a 24-17 lead. Arkansas still had a chance, but the offense went three-and-out with three straight pass plays. Head coach Ryan Silverfield opted to punt, and Tennessee picked up a single first down that ended things in Razorback Stadium to hand the Hogs their 14th-straight conference loss. Before the game, HawgBeat posed the three biggest questions about the Razorbacks heading into the game. Let’s revisit those and see how the Hogs answered them. Can Razorback defense hold up against Vols offense? For three and a half quarters, Arkansas’ defense did its job. Tennessee managed to find the end zone just once in the first half and didn’t get across the goal line again until the fourth quarter. The defense even did its job in the turnover department, as Tennessee quarterback George MacIntyre fumbled once and threw two interceptions. But the Hogs couldn’t capitalize on two of those turnovers, as a field goal at the end of the half went wide left and the offense stalled after Shelton Lewis‘ interception in the fourth quarter. You could probably blame a lack of offensive success for why the Razorback defense lost steam and ran out of gas down the stretch. On the Volunteers final three drives of the game, they gave up chunk plays of 68, 33 and 59 yards to start out. “Clearly he hit some of those explosive balls, he stood in there and took some hits,” Silverfield said after the game. “But yeah, when you have a chance to get two (interceptions), and it wound up being a fumble recovery from the quarterback and then the two interceptions, I thought the plan was in place. “But again, we’re going to go back and say, well, how about the last four or five minutes of the game. Not being able to stop the run when they’re backed up on the 5-yard line and then at the end not being able to stop them when it mattered most.” Can Razorbacks build off positives in run game? For three quarters, the answer was no. But Arkansas’ run game finally got going in the third quarter and the Hogs were gashing the Volunteers defense for big play after big play. A big reason for those big plays was Braylen Russell and Cam Settles. The latter had a 27-yard run play that set up a nine-yard rushing score by Russell. Russell almost had another explosive run at the end of the third quarter, but it was called back due to a hold on right guard Kobe Branham. Settles only saw two touches in the fourth quarter. “Braylen has obviously been very effective in some of those short yardage, 12-personnel packages, and Cam did some good things,” Silverfield said. “But you find yourself when you’re going three-and-out, it limits how many touches they get. “So I don’t think at that point in the game in the fourth quarter, it truly mattered who was touching the ball as a ball carrier. It was just finding ways to stay ahead of sticks, and we weren’t able to.” Arkansas also made a change at center to start the second half, as Kash Courtney replaced Caden Kitler. “He’s been dealing with an injury, he’s a tough sucker that’s been fighting through this, and every week you continue to go, and he battles, and he would do it until the wheels fell off,” Silverfield said of Kitler. “That’s what you appreciate about so many of our guys that push through and fight through, and he’s one of them. We had the opportunity where we thought that Kash could come in. And where Caden wasn’t being as effective, that Kash would give us a leg up in what we needed to do.” Will any receiver outside of Chris Marshall perform? The Razorbacks did share the wealth in the passing game a bit, but KJ Jackson was 15-of-27 for just 155 yards and a touchdown pass. Eight different receivers, including Marshall, recorded a reception, and Jackson’s lone touchdown came on a play-action rollout to Jaden Platt in the back of the end zone. Monte Harrison snagged a 29-yard reception — his only catch in the game — on the first drive. CJ Brown also had a 21-yard catch on that same drive. Marshall still got his targets and finished with seven receptions for 56 yards, a team-high. Only one other receiver, tight end Ty Lockwood, had more than one reception. “I think it’s those guys ran really good routes,” Jackson said postgame. “They caught the ball well, and they do week in and week out. I think I had to focus more this week on banging through my reads and ABC, 123, taking what’s open and still have a lot of room for improvement in that department. But we’ll come back Sunday and we’ll work.”