FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The first Saturday of October was a horror show for Southeastern Conference top-10 football teams having to play on the road.
Including Tennessee.
Following an afternoon in which No. 9 Missouri was obliterated at No. 25 Texas A&M and No. 1 Alabama was stunned for the first time in 40 years by Vanderbilt, the No. 4 Volunteers were sluggish in the first half coming off their open date and faltered late in a 19-14 loss at Arkansas before an announced crowd of 75,573 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. An 11-yard touchdown run by Arkansas backup quarterback Malachi Singleton with 1:17 remaining was the deciding score in sending the third SEC team in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll down in flames.
“It says what I’m pretty sure I said on Monday: In this league, you better come to play,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said afterward. “You have to play good football and smart football every single Saturday. The separation in this league is really tight, and we’ve got to get better and get ready to roll.”
Tennessee was held scoreless in the first half for the first time in 44 games under Heupel.