Today at 2:05 a.m.
by Ethan Westerman
Although it was against what proved to be far inferior competition, Tennessee looked dominant through the first week of the college football season.
The Volunteers steamrolled their first four opponents by a combined 216-28 score. It included a blowout 51-10 victory over then-No. 24 North Carolina State in Charlotte, N.C., and a comfortable 25-15 victory in front of a hostile crowd at then-No. 15 Oklahoma.
Tennessee entered an Oct. 5 date at Arkansas boasting a No. 4 national ranking, the nation’s top scoring offense, third-ranked total offense and second-ranked scoring defense.
Meanwhile, the Razorbacks were fresh off a 21-17 loss to Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas. They had a 3-2 record, but both losses were games that saw Arkansas blow fourth-quarter leads.
The teams appeared to be heading opposite directions. Tennessee walked into Reynolds Razorback Stadium fresh off a bye week, while an open week on the other side of the matchup couldn’t come soon enough for Arkansas.
Without any other major matchups on the slate that Saturday, the game drew a 6:30 p.m. kickoff time on ABC. ESPN’s top broadcast team of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe were assigned the call.
And what seems to always be the case in college football came true once more: Chaos will rule at least one week of the season.
During a wacky Week 6 across college football, Arkansas was part of the chaos.
Hours after Vanderbilt stormed the field in Nashville after knocking off No. 1 Alabama, the Razorbacks continued the Saturday of SEC shakeup with a 19-14 upset over No. 4 Tennessee.
The victory was voted upon by our WholeHogSports team as the top game of 2024.
It was the first time since 2012 that two teams ranked in the top five from the same conference lost on the same day. It was also the first time since 2004 that a pair of top-five teams lost to unranked opponents on the same day.
The upset victory did not come without drama for the Razorbacks, who wiped away a 14-3 third-quarter deficit. Arkansas also overcame injuries to two of its stars prior to a game-winning drive.
Early in the fourth quarter, backup quarterback Malachi Singleton entered in replacement of starter Taylen Green, who suffered a mild knee injury on a low hit from Tennessee defensive lineman Omar Norman-Lott.
Freshman running back Braylen Russell was also thrown into the fire late, as ace tailback Ja’Quinden Jackson left with an injury.
After the Arkansas defense forced a punt with just over 3 minutes left in the game, Singleton and the offense took over from the Razorbacks’ 41.
Singleton began the drive with a 13-yard completion to Isaiah Sategna, before Russell had back-to-back rushes of 24 and 11 yards. Facing first-and-10 from the Tennessee 11, Singleton kept the ball on a read play and darted into the end zone for the go-ahead score with 1:17 remaining.
“Wasn’t that awesome?” Pittman said. “The kids rallied around him. He made a good throw and did a great job with his legs. This is a big, big win for the University of Arkansas.”
The Razorbacks’ defense — which held Tennessee scoreless in the first half to set the game’s tone — came through with a final stop.
A 42-yard completion from Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava to Dont’e Thornton got the Vols to the Arkansas 25 with 35 seconds remaining. But from there, the Razorbacks forced two incompletions from Iamaleava. On the game’s final play, Iamaleava was flushed out of the pocket by Quincy Rhodes and eventually knocked out of bounds by Eric Gregory on a keeper.
There would be no keeping fans off the field as time expired.
Sixteen unanswered points led Arkansas to its first home victory over a top-five opponent since knocking off then-No. 3 Tennessee 28-24 in 1999. Both times, fans flooded the field in celebration.
Our WholeHogSports team nearly pulled an all-nighter trying to give readers stories to feast on when they woke up.
As was written in a column by our Matt Jones at 1:51 a.m. Sunday morning, the $250,000 check Arkansas owed Tennessee due to the field storming came with a smile.
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