Stopping Wild Hogs a challenge for UT's defense

Go ahead and make Arkansas the favorite.

Talk all you want about Razorbacks tailbacks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

Gush about how good the Arkansas offense looked in rolling up 541 rushing yards Saturday against South Carolina.

Tennessee senior linebacker Ryan Karl doesn't mind.

Neither does junior offensive lineman Anthony Parker.

It all becomes grist for the mill when the 22nd-ranked Vols take on Arkansas on Saturday in Neyland Stadium (TV: WVLT, 12:30 p.m.).

"I think it gives anybody a little edge," Parker said Monday when asked about all the talk of Arkansas and its running game. "I guess they've got the upper hand now because of the game they had Saturday.

"When nobody is talking about us, we go out and it makes us want to play a little harder, I guess."

Still, all that talk seems justified, at least early in the week.

In its losses this season, Tennessee has had difficulty tackling and maintaining assignments on defense.

Cal's DeSean Jackson and Justin Forsett were the culprits in UT's season opener.

Two weeks later, it was Percy Harvin and Tim Tebow at Florida.

Against Alabama, it was all D.J. Hall.

But the equation has been the same: Big plays in big games equal big trouble.

In short, exactly what Arkansas did Saturday against the Gamecocks.

Jones averaged 13.6 yards per carry and scored on runs of 40 and 72 yards.

McFadden, who tied the SEC's single-game rushing record with 321 yards, ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter of a 48-36 victory.

"You know he's (McFadden's) going to get some yards, but you just have to hope to contain him. And stop Felix Jones, too," Karl said. "It's just a matter of us staying in our gaps, staying disciplined and making tackles."

In short, exactly what the Vols did when they held Georgia's Thomas Brown, Knowshon Moreno and Kregg Lumpkin to a combined 76 yards rushing last month in a 35-14 victory.

"We just tackled real well that game," Karl said. "We came out real fired up. People wrote us off that game. We ended up beating them real well, holding them to 60-something yards rushing."

A week after that game, Arkansas had its worst offensive outing of the season against Auburn.

McFadden and Jones were handcuffed most of the night, finishing with 85 yards between them.

The Razorbacks, owners of the SEC's most productive offense at 473 yards per game, were held to just 193 yards all game.

But that was then.

Wide receiver Marcus Monk, who had 137 yards and two touchdowns against the Vols last year, is healthy and demands attention.

So, too, does Arkansas' self-described "wildhog" package, which puts McFadden at quarterback.

"That's probably going to be the hardest thing to defend," Karl said. "We worked on it a lot (Sunday), and we're going to continue to work on it and get it down to where we'll be crisp at it."

Just how effective the Vols will be on Saturday is anybody's guess.

But there's no question about Tennessee's mindset.

"We know if we lose another one we'll pretty much be out of the race for the SEC championship game," Parker says. "As it was for the Georgia game, our backs were against the wall and they still are now.

"We control our own destiny. We better go get the job done."

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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