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Wiedmer: Vols another brick shy of a victory Tied at halftime, Vols allow Arkansas to take control in second half Missed opportunities haunt Vols again Game Tweets: Arkansas defeats Tennessee, 24-20
KNOXVILLE - The fourth quarter found a different way to befuddle Tennessee this time.
There was no two-score lead to give away.
There was no comeback on the cards either.
The Volunteers came up empty on potential go-ahead drives and sputtered on offense in the second half while allowing Arkansas to win its first Southeastern Conference road game since October 2012 as the Razorbacks notched a 24-20 win at a damp Neyland Stadium on Saturday night.
"I know (the players) hurt. We all hurt," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said after dropping to 14-16 overall in his third season with the Vols. "It's tough on all of us when you invest so much. There is no magical potion, there is no magical cure. You go back to work and you keep working to get better."
Entering the game, Arkansas (2-3, 1-1) was 0-9 under third-year coach Bret Bielema in games decided by fewer than 10 points, but the Razorbacks battled back from a 14-0 deficit and overcame some second-half mistakes as Tennessee (2-3, 0-2) struggled in the final two quarters.
Tennessee's losses this season have been by a combined 12 points as the Vols continue to come up short trying to get over the hump.
"My goal is to get this team to finish drives, get this team to finish games," Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs said. "All of our games, all of our losses have been close. That just comes down to finishing. It's always stuff we can improve on as a team and corrections that can be made."
Tennessee made too many mistakes to deserve a win.
There were too many dropped passes, a missed field goal and fumble in the red zone and a penalty that wiped out Alvin Kamara's 71-yard punt return touchdown in the second quarter.
The Vols missed too many tackles and gave up too many big plays in the first half, and they couldn't stop Arkansas from running the ball in the second half as both Alex Collins and Rawleigh Williams reached 100 yards on the ground.
"I'm not worried about my team," Tennessee safety Brian Randolph said. "We have great character. It's my job to keep us together. No negative thoughts, no pointing the finger."
Arkansas took the lead for good by scoring on the opening drive of the second half, but twice the Razorbacks stalled and came away with no points inside Tennessee's 10-yard line.
Vols freshman Shy Tuttle blocked a 22-yard field goal late in the third quarter, and Arkansas tried a fake midway through the fourth quarter, but backup kicker Adam McFain was stopped a yard short of a first down after taking a toss from the holder.
Tennessee's offense couldn't take advantage of its defense doing just enough to stay in the game.
The Vols had just 61 yards in the third quarter. After stopping the fake, Von Pearson and Preston Williams dropped catchable passes and Tennessee went three-and-out.
Tennessee's final drive went 29 yards, stalled near midfield and Arkansas ran out what was left of the clock.
"We had many opportunities to make plays," Jones said, "and we just weren't able to do it."
Tennessee had just four possessions and only managed 4 rushing yards, five first downs and 24 plays in the second half as Arkansas held the ball for nearly 22 minutes.
"We talked about it all week," Kamara said. "Arkansas does a great job of milking the clock, and they came out in the second half and that's what they did. They turned around, handed the ball off and kept clock running.
"It's hard to get in a rhythm like that, but we talked about just taking advantage of our drives all week, and we came up a little bit short."
The Vols are now 0-2 in the SEC for the eighth consecutive season.
"How you get over the hump is you keep working and you win one of these games. That's the only way you can do it," Jones said. "We have some good leaders. It starts with me, it starts with our coaching staff, it starts with players and staying together.
"We understand it's very challenging right now, but we have to be very, very resilient and keep working."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.