Missed opportunities haunt Vols again

KNOXVILLE – Tennessee rolled up 275 yards of offense in the first half of Saturday night’s game against Arkansas.

The Volunteers could turn that success into only 10 offensive points, though, due to red-zone mistakes.

On four trips inside the Razorbacks’ 20-yard line in the first half of the eventual 24-20 loss, Tennessee came up empty on two and settled for a field goal on another, and those were crucial missed opportunities in another close defeat.

“It was a four-point game at the end, and we talked about scoring touchdowns in the red zone and we only did that one time,” quarterback Josh Dobbs said. “That’s something that we knew coming into the game and we didn’t execute once we got on the field and had the opportunities in front of us.”

Aaron Medley lined a 29-yard field-goal try off the left upright with Tennessee up 14-7 late in the first quarter.

After settling for another field goal, the Vols threatened to add to a 17-14 lead in the second quarter when freshman wide receiver Preston Williams fumbled inside the 10-yard line. Arkansas cornerback Jared Collins put his helmet right on the football and defensive lineman Tevin Beanum recovered.

“Arkansas does a good job of holding onto the ball and milking the clock, so not being able to get touchdowns on those drives was kind of deflating,” running back Alvin Kamara said.

“Getting three points was really doing too much for us. We’ve got to score. We’ve just got to keep working and get some things clicking on offense to be able to finish these drives out.”

The scholarship six

The Vols were without two of their top receivers Saturday night as Marquez North and Pig Howard did not play due to injuries.

North missed the second half of last week’s loss at Florida after taking a hard hit late in the second quarter and did not play against Arkansas after he was very limited in practice most of the week.

Howard, Tennessee’s leading receiver in 2o13 and 2014, did not make the trip to Gainesville and also sat out the opener against Bowling Green while serving a one-game suspension. It’s believed he is battling an ankle injury. The Vols have been vague in explaining his absence.

Those absences left Tennessee with six healthy scholarship receivers: Jauan Jennings, Williams, Von Pearson, Josh Malone, Josh Smith and Johnathon Johnson, who played one snap last week because he was available only in emergency situations due to a hamstring injury.

Williams got the first start of his career and became the third freshman starter for Tennessee this season, joining Jennings and linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr.

Bynum gets the start

Tennessee elected to go with experience over youth at linebacker Saturday night.

Junior Kenny Bynum started the game at strongside linebacker and played most of the game as the Vols adjusted their defense to counter Arkansas and its two-tight-end sets and run-first offense.

Freshman Austin Smith also was a possibility to start, which would have been the first of his career.

Bynum, who started the TaxSlayer Bowl at the end of last season, made a big play on special teams in the fourth quarter when he stopped a fake field goal by Arkansas after cornerback Emmanuel Moseley did a good job stringing out the kicker as he ran wide trying to pick up the first down.

O-line shuffle

Tennessee had to go with a different lineup on the offensive line in the second half.

Jashon Robertson moved from left guard to right guard and Mack Crowder came into the lineup at left guard after starting right guard Dylan Wiesman left the game in the first half for an undisclosed reason.

Phillips injured

Freshman defensive end Kyle Phillips suffered what appeared to be an arm or hand injury late in the second quarter and did not return.

Phillips reached out trying to grab Arkansas running back Alex Collins while engaged with an offensive lineman and went to the ground, and he left the field walking gingerly.

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com