KNOXVILLE - The Tennessee football team is getting a visit from one of its nontraditional SEC foes Saturday, but the Volunteers may not face a more traditional opponent this season.
In this day and age of spread offenses pushing the tempo and aiming for triple-digit play counts, Arkansas continues to employ an old-school approach built upon a smash-mouth rushing attack and ball-control offense.
It means the Vols will swap the five-defensive-back (nickel) packages they've primarily used so far for more three-linebacker looks on defense and will have to maximize the plays and possessions they get on offense.
"The thing for us is that it's pretty foreign," Vols defensive coordinator John Jancek said. "Last week when we had (that) personnel, we played nickel. This week there's no way. They'll knock you out of the stadium if you do that. You've got to play base. We're going to have rely on some young guys."
The absence of Curt Maggitt, whose presence off the edge as a pass-rusher the Vols have missed in the last three games, means freshman Austin Smith will be thrust into action, with Kenny Bynum the other option at strongside linebacker.
Seldom used on defense so far, Smith and Bynum are getting extra work with the coaches outside of practice this week.
Smith, a 6-foot-3, 236-pound former three-star prospect out of the Atlanta area, has played on special teams, but he'll play more on defense Saturday than he has this season. With Smith and Darrin Kirkland Jr., the Vols could have two freshman linebackers on the field most of the game.
"Austin's going to be a really good player," Jancek said. "He's really a talented young man, but he's going to be thrown into the fire. He's going to be in the deep end of the pool with no life jacket. He's got to figure it out, soon."
Tennessee's defensive linemen face a big challenge as well against an Arkansas offensive line that's one of the biggest in the country and will be by far the best they've faced this season.
The Razorbacks threw the ball 53 times in a 16-12 loss to Toledo, but they've returned more to form the past two games. Arkansas attempted 21 passes against Texas Tech and 20 in an overtime loss to Texas A&M. Running back Alex Collins ran for 321 yards in those two games.
Steve Stripling, Tennessee's defensive line coach, is confident in his 10-man rotation. The quintet at defensive tackle includes freshmen Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie, who had their most extensive action of the season at Florida last week. Kyle Phillips, another freshman, is in the rotation at defensive end.
"I think those are special young players," Stripling said, "and I told them I'm coaching them hard and coaching them with detail. They might think I'm on them every play. And that's OK, because I expect great things out of them."
Tennessee's defensive front will have to hold up against the run to slow Arkansas, which has punted only seven times this season.
"That's what the message has been," Stripling said. "This is going to be - we call it 'inside run' - it's going to be a 60-minute inside run day on Saturday. I think they've limited other offenses to two or three possessions a half at times, so our job is to go out there and stop the run, get ahead on the chains and then get off the football field."
Arkansas has kept opposing offenses off the field. The Razorbacks lead the SEC in average time of possession (nearly 36 minutes per game). Of the teams that have played four games this season, only two (North Carolina State and Boston College) have played fewer defensive snaps than the Hogs' 221.
Toledo ran 62 plays against Arkansas, but Texas Tech ran only 58 and Texas A&M just 48. The Red Raiders (75.5) and Aggies (70.5) average far more plays per game than that. Tennessee averaged nearly 78 plays per game in September.
The Razorbacks are 53rd nationally in total defense (357.8 ypg), but they allow nearly 6.5 yards per play, which is 116th nationally, so the Vols will have to make their chances count while not pressing or panicking on offense.
"That's a big thing that we've been stressing this week," tight end Ethan Wolf said. "We go over our main emphasis - we call it the big three - of the week for offense. One of our points that we're emphasizing this week is making every possession count.
"We have to score touchdowns in the red zone and can't settle for field goals, because ultimately they're going to take some possessions away. We've got to make every play count. We can't have any negative-yardage plays to get us out of our offensive schedule. We can't be in third-and-11, third-and-12 if we want to be successful."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com