KNOXVILLE — Seconds into his news conference shortly after noon Monday, Tennessee football coach Butch Jones declared that his players did enough to win Saturday’s game at Florida.
The third-year coach of the Volunteers later was asked if he thought he and his staff coached well enough to win a game Tennessee lost 28-27 after leading by 13 points with 10 minutes to go.
Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) runs the ball for a touchdown after a catch against Florida during the first half in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015 in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)Vols’ opponent scouting report: Arkansas
* Season rewind: Perhaps the SEC West’s version of fellow preseason darling Tennessee, Arkansas was picked to finish fourth in the division ahead of Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, but the Razorbacks enter this game 1-3 after losses to Toledo (16-12 in Little Rock), Texas Tech (35-24 at home) and Texas A&M (28-21 in overtime in Dallas). * Coaching capsule: Bret Bielema was 68-24 and 37-19 in the Big Ten with three outright or shared conference titles and three Rose Bowl appearances in seven seasons at Wisconsin. In his third year at Arkansas, he’s just 11-18 overall and 2-15 in the SEC. The Razorbacks are 0-9 in games decided by seven points or less under Bielema. * One to watch: Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams each ran for more than 1,000 yards as Arkansas finished 2014 with routs of Ole Miss, LSU and Texas. Williams was lost for the season in August due to a foot injury, so Collins is carrying the load for the Hogs. He’s the SEC’s third-leading rusher (125.5 ypg) behind Leonard Fournette and Nick Chubb. By the numbers * 186.2: Arkansas is eighth in the SEC in rushing at 186.2 yards per game. The Razorbacks finished fourth in the league in rushing (220.2 ypg) with Williams and Collins healthy in 2014. * 35:51: The Hogs are first in the SEC and third nationally in average time of possession. * 2010: Tennessee hasn’t beaten an SEC West team since hammering Ole Miss in 2010. Alabama is responsible for four of those eight losses. The others were No. 1 LSU (2011), No. 19 Mississippi State (2012), No. 7 Auburn (2013) and No. 3 Ole Miss (2014). Quotable “It’s just like backyard, old-school football. There will be a lot of runs, but they have the passing game, too. We know it’s going to be smashmouth, but that is something that we all enjoy on defense.” – Tennessee safety Brian Randolph on the Arkansas offense
“I do. I thought we all did,” Jones replied. “It’s one or two plays, and I think it’s putting everything in perspective. I really believe that. We’re two plays away, we’re 10 seconds away from being 4-0, and we’re 2-2. We can’t let two plays or 10 seconds define who we are. We have to continue to work and continue to grind.
“I thought our coaching staff had a great, great plan going in. You look at how we limited them offensively. You look at some of the things we did from our own offense. Again, it just comes down to one play, two plays. I hurt for the kids, because it’s all about our players, but players are resilient.