VOL REPORT: ARKANSAS WEEK

Tennessee Braces For Another Big Test

KNOXVILLE – For the fourth time in five weeks, Tennessee will face an opponent that’s ranked at least 12th when the Vols play at No. 8 Arkansas on Saturday.

For the Vols, who have played No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Alabama and No. 12 South Carolina in that stretch, it’s just business as usual.

“They look very good obviously,” sophomore center Alex Bullard said of the Razorbacks. “We’re going against another top ten opponent. We are going to have to be very detailed in our assignments and be focused on what we have to do. As long as we stay focused on what we need to do everything else should take care of itself.”

While the Vols’ past three ranked opponents have been run-oriented, Arkansas’ aerial attack poses a different challenge.

The Razorbacks feature a passing offense that ranks first in the SEC and eighth nationally (318.7 yards per game), highlighted by quarterback Tyler Wilson, who leads the league in passing yards per contest (291.8).

Wilson’s success is aided by a pair of standout receivers in Jarius Wright and Joe Adams, who rank first and fourth in the conference in receptions per game, respectively.

In other words, it will be Tennessee’s greatest challenge this season in terms of pass coverage.

“I think that is fair to say,” head coach Derek Dooley said. “I mean statistically thinking, they are the best throwing team in the league. But when you look at it, they have a quarterback that has a real playmaking mentality, a little bit like Tyler (Bray) has. They have a lot of speed on the perimeter. They play fast. It’s not that they just run fast, they run fast without the ball.

“They have a real confident swagger to them. Every time a team inches closer to them they answer the bell. Pow, pow, pow. . .touchdown. I’ve seen it so many games. So, yes this will be our biggest challenge answering the pass. And it’s really hard to stop them, not many teams have.”

The Vols, however, cannot afford to just focus on the pass defensively.

“Bobby (Petrino) has always done a good job of running the ball and calling a lot of runs,” Dooley said. “You look at his quarterback attempts. They are like us philosophically, and when you look at his numbers I feel like they are playing there best when he is throwing it around 35 to 38 times which is what I have told you guys that is where we need to be in a four quarter game, not in the 40s and 50s. I can’t speak for him, but he does a real good job of making sure you have to defend the run.”

Regardless of the Razorbacks’ gameplan, Tennessee will get a better idea of how far its come after a trying October.

“I think we’ve improved a lot over the year,” senior defensive lineman Malik Jackson said. “It’s kind of hard to tell with all the losses we’ve had. As a defense, I feel like we’ve gone out there every week, competed real hard and played for the most part all four quarters. We just have to keep the ball rolling and try to get a big win against a big team. That’s coming up this week.”

LANE WORKING IN THE WILDCAT

Looking for ways to jumpstart its running attack, Tennessee turned to a new weapon against MTSU on Saturday with freshman tailback Marlin Lane taking direct snaps in a “wildcat” formation.

While it is still very much a work in progress, the Vols were pleased with the early results.

“We got some positive yards out of it,” Dooley said. “It was a starting point. We got seven yards on a power. We didn’t get much on our sweeps the way we were hoping, but it helped us a little bit on the power. It was a good start. We’ll keep playing with it, but it’s not going to solve our problems.

The new formation was nothing out of the ordinary for Lane who ran it his last two years at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Fla., after serving as the team’s quarterback as a freshman.

For the Vols though, it was a play they hadn’t used since 2009 mainly because of personnel concerns.

“I’ve always liked it, I have,” Dooley said. “I haven’t run it here just because I haven’t had a comfort level with the right guy running it. I think it’s a good way to take a few plays off the quarterback. If you don’t run your quarterback runs, the zone read stuff, it’s just a way to have that component in your offense and it helps, but it is rarely going to be the difference between winning and losing.”

While Tennessee continues to fine-tune its version of the “wildcat” formation, most of the debate has swirled around what the Vols will call it with suggestions ranging from ‘4-Runner’ to ‘Swagcat’ to ‘Express Lane’ and many others. The guy taking the snaps will leave that to the experts though.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lane said. “As long as I’m out there running it, I’m cool with it.”

GORDON MAKING PLAYS AT NICKEL

Tennessee has been looking for someone to step up and make big plays. Redshirt sophomore Eric Gordon did just that against MTSU, collecting two tackles for loss and intercepting a pass from his nickel position.

“Anytime you are in the nickel position, I feel like you are in a position to make a lot of plays in the run as well as the pass,” Gordon said. “When I got a chance to make a big play, I made that and it feels great.”

With 5.0 tackles for loss, the third-most of any UT player, the Vols know Gordon has the ability to change the game with big plays defensively. Now the key for him to become more of an every-down player is sustaining that effort on a consistent basis.

“What Eric does is he can go out there and make some plays for you,” Dooley said. “Eric’s biggest challenge is his dependability, lining up right, knowing what to do and not giving up big plays. We want Eric to play more, but the dependability is the key in that.

“He’s probably frustrated a little bit, as all players are when they aren’t playing as much as they think they should. But like most players they tend to focus on things that don’t involve them instead of focusing on their play, dependability and their consistency. That’s what we talked to Eric about. Quit worrying about all the other guys back there. Line up right, play your technique right and he will play more.”

QUOTABLE

Senior defensive lineman Malik Jackson

(On Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson)

“Watching the film, he takes his time and goes through his reads. He goes through his progressions, looks at the defense and is a really smart guy. He takes his time with the ball. The longer he holds it, the better for us.”

(On the defensive line’s role Saturday against Arkansas)

“It starts with us, rushing, affecting the quarterback and giving some help to the DBs back there, as well as them covering the receivers to give us some time to work. We just have to work together as a defense.”

Sophomore center Alex Bullard

(On Tennessee’s running game against MTSU)

“There were times where we didn’t get the job done from an execution standpoint, and then there were times where we were on our guys and we did not finish well enough. I think those are the two biggest things that limited our run game.”

(On Tennessee’s ability to run against top competition)

“In those games, we stayed on our guys and were able to finish them. That was the biggest thing. We went after who we had to block and we did not have very many missed assignments. Guys were getting off their blocks in the last two games and that’s the biggest thing. We just haven’t been getting it done. When we play the way we know we are capable of playing we can run the ball against the best. “

Sophomore offensive lineman James Stone

(On the Arkansas defense)

“They have a pretty good defense. We haven’t gotten a whole lot of time to watch film on them but I’ve seen them a couple times on TV and they have a pretty good (defensive) front. I think we are going to come in focused and ready to execute and finish on our guy. If we finish then I think we should play pretty well.”

(On snapping the UT losing streak)

“A win is always good for the spirit. It is always good to get a win and you appreciate it especially going into the month of November.”

Junior fullback Ben Bartholomew

(On Tennessee’s running game)

“We were close to breaking out some really long ones. I think continually improving our assignments, fitting on the right guys at the right time, and if we can get one or two more blocks on each play set perfect, we’re going to have some really big runs. I haven’t lost faith at all in our running game.”

(On Arkansas)

“We’ve just started to get into the gameplan. I know they’re a really good team and they have a really good defense. It will be another big challenge this week.”

Sophomore defensive back Eric Gordon

(On what he likes about playing nickel)

“You are just free. You never know when you are covering somebody or when you are blitzing. It’s like you can pretty much do what you want to.”

Freshman tailback Marlin Lane

(On Jaron Toney’s performance against MTSU)

“That’s telling everybody that it’s not promised that we are going to play. Whoever is making progress at practice is going to get in and play. In the running backs room we all push each other to work and work hard each and every day with no change in tempo in practice Monday through Friday. “

(On the difference from high school to college)

“It’s a lot different. Every week we are playing the top teams in the county, so I just keep working and getting in the cold tub to keep my body loose to play.”