Event Details
- What: Tennessee vs. Arkansas
- When: Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007, 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
- Where: Neyland Stadium
- Cost: Not available
- Age limit: All ages
Tennessee Stat Book
Remember that bit about the best defense being a good offense?
That's exactly how Tennessee offensive lineman Anthony Parker feels about Saturday's game against Arkansas.
Every snap the Vols' offense is on the field means a carry that won't go to Razorbacks tailbacks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.
"We definitely got to be able to run the ball and keep them off the field," Parker said. "We all saw the game on Saturday when he (McFadden) ran for 320, 330 (yards). I guess a big part of our game plan will be keeping him off the field. Us running the ball is going to be a big part of us getting the victory."
The Vols tried to control the clock Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette, especially early.
In the first quarter, the Vols ran the ball 15 times and threw just eight passes.
By halftime, the Vols had rushed the ball 25 times in their 38 offensive plays and held a 24-0 lead.
That performance should inspire confidence that Tennessee's offense can control the ball, Parker said.
"As an offensive line, we've kind of wanted that all year," he said. "We got a chance to do that on Saturday, and I think we took advantage of it. I guess the coaches now will have confidence in us getting it done. We'll go out and try to get it done."
In six SEC games this season, Tennessee has won the time of possession battle three times.
The only game Tennessee won when its opponent held the ball longer was South Carolina - and the Vols had to mount a late comeback after they squandered a 21-point halftime lead.
No TV for Vandy: For the second time this season, the Vols won't be playing on television against an SEC opponent.
Tennessee's Nov. 17 game against Vanderbilt will not be televised.
An early afternoon kickoff is expected, but an official announcement has not been made.
Next week, Lincoln Financial will televise Kentucky at Georgia, while CBS will show LSU at Ole Miss.
ESPN and ESPN2 will not air SEC games that week.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Arkansas' 541 yards rushing and Darren McFadden's SEC record 321 yards in Saturday's win over South Carolina caught Parker's attention.
Only it was focused equally on the Razorbacks' Heisman Trophy candidate and the five guys blocking for him.
"Definitely says a lot about the offensive line," said Parker, UT's starting left guard. "It compliments both him and the offensive line on them going out there and executing and getting the job done."
How You Start: Tennessee and LSU remain the SEC's only unbeaten teams at home.
For the Vols, the key to their 5-0 home record has been keeping opponent off the board in the first 30 minutes.
In UT's last three home games (Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana-Lafayette), Tennessee hasn't allowed a first-half point and outscored those teams 73-0.
Extra Points: Saturday's game features the SEC's two longest tenured coaches in Arkansas' Houston Nutt (10th season) and UT's Phillip Fulmer (16th season). … Tennessee is 45-5 overall and 29-1 in SEC play at home in November since 1985.
Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.
Phillip Fulmer through the years
Barbara Dooley and Pat Summitt Go Red…
Tyler Summitt through the years
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 29
hcjournals#206623 writes:
If we can stuff their running game and force them to pass over us, we might be able to create turnovers. The ULL game should do for us what the first two games does for Florida every year: It should give us the feeling that we can score at will when we execute. If our offense gets going early and we stop the razorpig's vaunted running attack and make their offense one dimensional to where they have to throw the ball to catch up, then we will win and hopefully have far fewer complaints about Coach Fulmer, except by the idiots. It would be nice for a change.
iowavol writes:
Agreed HCJ, but Coach better commit to keeping his offense on the field and keeping his defense fresh. The defense will be chasing pigs all over the place when they are on the field. The only way to keep them fresh is limit the opportunities for the Ark offense. 4th and 5 from your own 30 and you better go for it because it doesn't matter. If you punt Arkansas has a 70 yard drive rather than a 30 yard drive. Our defense is off the field sooner and our offense is back on it. Start wearing down the Arkansas defense by the 2nd quarter. Then and only then will our defense have a shot at stopping a 4th quarter Arkansas drive to win the game.
tennisvol writes:
All the Sun Belt games are over for Phil. It's time he earned that 2 million plus for the remainder of the season. We'll see against the Hogs.
jdcdjc#246285 writes:
Fulmer and Chavis owe it to those young men to have them ready and a good game plan, which we have not had sense the Georgia game. I hope Cutcliff has Ainge setteled down and ready. All those thing have to come together for us to have a chance against the Hogs.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
They'll come off the field when Jones hands the ball back to the backjudge and heads over to a jumping up and down Nutt! While the scoreboard clicks and Phil thinks about Krispy Kreme's and dreams of Atl fade into the November afternoon! Go Vols!
bigbluevol writes:
The fat jokes and the Krispy Kreme jokes are both original and hilarious...oh wait. If you can't come up with something original, spare us. It's like Mad Libs and all your answers are "fat" and "Krispy Kreme." Not funny.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
On paper, McF should run for 600 yards on us, and Felix another 200 or so...
thing is, that's what ARk is thinking, too. They willl be conficant, both from last weeks game and from last years blowout.
USC has a pretty good D. We don't, we suck this year. That being a given, we MIGHT do better than 'on paper', simply because our kids will step up their game.
I know when I used to play it was a lot more fun playing a running team, since you got to hit someone almost every play!!!! Passing teams are frustrating, always coming up just short of the qb or having to chase down some scatback receiver.
Okay, enough phooey. put our best db on MONK all day long, maybe double him. put 10 in the box, blitz every play, let the chips fall.....(sigh).
rootin4volz writes:
pdhuff..."Go Vols!"???? Yeah, right...sounds like it.
GreerVol22 writes:
mparker, your last sentance is about all we can hope for ...sadly (sigh as well). And the Krispy Kreme jokes are old, but still funny...I didn't think one could study any kind of film without them? If they sold KKs and Hot Chocolate Saturday, maybe the day would not be a total loss.
alfrizzle097 writes:
Yeah, but Arkansas would seem to be on a definate upswing. We are 6-3 with wins over Southern Miss, Arkansas State, and Louisiana Lafayette. Our only truely good win was against Georgia. The SC game should have been a loss.
I'm not criticizing the team, just pointing out that our resume is hardly better than Arkansas'
Colliervol writes:
I realize we may not be as attractive as we used to be but why in the world would CBS choose to show LSU vs Ole Miss on the 17th? I would advise keeping your children away from the TV when that comes on. It will be worse than Custer at the Little Big Horn.
jlange#632002 writes:
Fire Richt, fire Spurrier, those losers.
DSaVol writes:
"UT's goal to keep Arkansas off field" Better bolt the locker room doors then!
DennisVols writes:
UT's goal should be to keep it players out of trouble. It seems there are more news stories about off the field incidents than on.
How can they expect to beat a team when they have to focus so much attention on the lack of discipline off the field.
injunvol writes:
no kidding you really think ole miss will score 13 points
invisiblekid writes:
ULL 32:39-UT 27:21, SC 36:25-UT 23:35, UT 22:22- AL 37:38, UT 31:39-MSST 28:21, GA 24:54-UT 35:06,
ARST 27:41-UT 32:19, UT 25:10- FL 34:50, SM 27:17-UT 32:43, CAL 30:14-UT 29:46. Just offering these stats to back up my opinion that Cutcliffe won't go into Saturday worrying about time of possession. It just hasn't been his style to stick with a grind-it-out type of game for 4 quarters this year and it goes away from the strength of the team which is the passing game. It's obvious that keeping McFadden and Jones off the field should be a priority but I don't expect to see the offensive gameplan to change much. The other thing to keep in mind is that the time of possession game works both ways, the Hogs may be willing to play that game too to protect their defense. And with Mcfadden and Jones, they are well-equipped to do it.
vscebail#247785 writes:
What an original idea: "UT's goal to keep Arkansas off field" -- DUH!!!!
volsfan327 writes:
The goal is going to be to stop McFadden! He can rack up some yards. The hogs are weak in the secondary, so that could give Ainge a time to shine but if we get behind, more than likely Ainge will panic and start throwing interceptions and then we are trouble. It is a bumpy road to Atlanta! Go Vols
CoverOrange writes:
Excuse me, Mr. Edwards, but Tennessee has played in only 5 SEC games so far this year. Just thought I would help out in the editing department.
If the UT running game doesn't get out of the blocks on the first drive, Cut will ditch in favor of the Ainge's arm.
Wish Lucas Taylor had rested his toe last week.
GreerVol22 writes:
I can think of three girls than should visit Mr. McFadden.
99gator writes:
good luck to tenn this saturday. mcfadden and jones are a handful.
as for this article... the only way to win time of possession against arkansas is with your defense. offense can have a seven minute drive. but arkansas runs..runs...runs. if they have a drive they keep the ball several minutes... unless mcfadden or jones bust one, which is also not good.
does anyone think the last few weeks will cause a separation in the division or it will all end up a muddled mess?
99gator writes:
sjt18
i thought it was 5-6 losses. i would never have disputed the possibility of three losses.
the reason for that is i thought florida would lose three. lsu, sc, and ?. i am just not used to them losing to georgia or at home. but, now they may beat sc. i also was speaking in terms of not including a bowl game. that also did not include any "what if" injury situations.
so.... yeah 5 losses is possible. a loss to sc and a loss in a bowl game would make 5.
don't know how plugged in you are to uf, but one of the "what if" injury situations has happened. florida does not have too many injury problems but, most of them are at defensive tackle. against vandy, florida started a true freshman backup offensive center at defensive tackle, because he also played there in high school.
when you start doing that... any win/loss scenarios are possible.
so... kudos for your prediction.
99gator writes:
don't confuse that with posts i made explaining the logic behind some picking florida to win the sec east before the season.
win at home, own georgia, miss, lsu, ky, sc on the road.
well, they lost at home and they lost to georgia.
LargeOrange writes:
I agree with stj in his earlier post about the SC game, TN totally dominated SC in the first half. Steve Superior made adjustments a the half and we did not, but the point I keep hearnig is the Chavis failed to adjust, which is true, but if I remember correctly, we didn't make a first down in the third quarter or for most of the 4th quarter. Ainge either overthrew or under threw nearly every pass. He admitted that it was his worst game in a long time. If we could have completed a few of those passes and let the defense rest for more than 3 plays at a time, we go on to a pretty easy victory, after spotting ourselves a 21 point lead. If the offense goes 3 and out repeatedly on Saturday, i am afraid we will get killed, but I see Ainge shredding the AR secondary and then Foster/Hardesty/Creer moving the chains and letting the defense rest. That to me is the key. GO BIG ORANGE
utwick writes:
Just a few leftovers that are still bugging me:
What message are the coaches sending the team when you punt on 4th and short? The answer could be that we don't have confidence in the offense to convert or in the defense to hold. Either way the coaches are sending a clear message to the team that we don't have trust in you. A large part of development is gaining confidence in yourself, and the coaching staff needs to start working on that.
Why wait until the 4th quarter to play next year's quarterback when you are already up by 38? Unless Stephens, Coleman or Jones show up next spring in a superman cape, then Jonathan will be the man. Why not give him some game experience, or do we think he'll blow a huge lead?
With a very good rushing offense coming to town this week, did the coaches find 15 minutes for the team to practice tackling, or would I be better off pondering more cowbell?
99gator writes:
sjt18
i expect south carolina to play well at home too. blake mitchell is as streaky a qb as i have ever seen. you don't know what you'll get from game to game, half to half, quarter to quarter, or play to play. sooner or later, they will play well. the 2nd half of football against tenn is the only time south carolina has looked good since the first half against north carolina. at this point, any confidence anyone has from week to week is false bravado.
marc_ash wrote that florida could still make the sec championship game. any scenario is plausible at this point. georgia winning out or losing out would not surprise me. tennessee winning out or losing out (except vandy) would not surprise me. florida winning or losing to south carolina would not surprise me.
i never thought so many teams could possibly play in a bowl in shreveport or in a bcs bowl at this time of year, but that's the situation.
i underestimated just how weak florida's defense would be. my only concern is (when it comes to 2008), how much better can they get in one year. because, they have to get a lot better. i will say that i have been happy with the consistent level of effort by the team. while losing at times was disappointing, there really hasn't been a real head scratching moment.
gohawks1 writes:
So what does the future of Houston Nutt look like this week in Arkansas? Should he stay or should he go now?
Sometimes you feel like a Nutt, sometimes you don't.
1974Vol writes:
99gator / sjt18
If UF & UGA are like UT they are just a player or two away from being really good football teams. Some people may think I'm crazy but if the Vols have Turk McBride and Inky Johnson healthy and playing this year, this would be a pretty good defense. A DT that requires a double team and a lock down corner would make all the difference in the world. I know TDTN and others may give me the "If bullfrogs had wings... blah blah" , but that's how close this league is; lose one to the NFL and another to injury and you go from a 4th or 5th rated D to 10th or 11th.
99gator writes:
1974Vol...
i can't speak for georgia or tenn...but most in the florida camp feel that they have the players, they just need to grow up. no one will really know if that's a bunch of bologna or not until after the 2008 and 2009 seasons have been played. for sake of argument, if florida had jarvis moss, brandon siler, ryan smith, and reggie nelson (all juniors who left for the nfl), they still would have problems on defense. they would obviously be better though. something like 37 of florida's 44 two-deep will be back next season.
most are also salivating at the thought of how good the offense would be if the defense gave them more possessions, which should happen next season. key word being "should"
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