Vols trying to get 'butts to Atlanta' : govolsxtra.com

Getting ahead.

That’s what today is all about for Tennessee’s football team.

When Arkansas visits Neyland Stadium for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff (TV: WVLT), the 22nd-ranked Vols have their SEC fate in their hands.

If the Vols win, nothing else around the league matters.

If they lose, they’ll be scoreboard watching again, hoping that Auburn helps out with an upset of Georgia later in the afternoon.

They’ll need South Carolina to work some late night magic against Florida, too.

And all that just to get back to where they were when they woke up this morning.

But a victory today means the Vols remain ahead in the SEC East’s race to Atlanta for the conference championship game.

A win means nothing else matters, either.

Not the rumblings about coach Phillip Fulmer that have come and gone this season.

Not the national pundits who have written the Vols off for dead.

Nothing matters except taking care of business against the Razorbacks.

“That’s just fuel to feed the fire,” defensive end Xavier Mitchell said recently. “We’re going to continue to move forward, try and get our butts to Atlanta and get us a championship.”

To do that — and get ahead of the pack heading into their final two games of the season — the Vols need to get ahead against Arkansas.

Quick.

In its last three home games – wins over Georgia, South Carolina and Louisana-Lafayette — Tennessee (6-3, 3-2 SEC) hasn’t surrendered a first-half point.

Only South Carolina made it close, albeit after the Vols blew a 21-0 lead and struggled to the move the ball after halftime.

Arkansas, meanwhile, has been tough to stop once it gets rolling out of the gates.

The Razorbacks (6-3, 3-2) average nearly 110 rushing yards in the first quarter of their wins and only 30 in their losses.

How Arkansas starts today’s game will largely be determined by tailbacks Darren McFadden, last year’s Heisman Trophy runner up, and Felix Jones.

Last week, the two combined for nearly 200 first-quarter yards. Arkansas finished with 541, the highest total for an SEC team against a conference opponent.

McFadden tied the SEC single-game record with 321 yards of his own.

“Both those guys are great running backs. As a team running for 500 yards on South Carolina, you don’t hear of that,” linebacker Ryan Karl said. “They’re great. They’re big-play guys. When you’re busting 70-, 80-yard runs back to back, you’re going to put up those kind of numbers.”

If those two break many runs like that, it will be a long day for Tennessee’s defense.

Perhaps as long as it was in The Swamp when Florida hung 59 points on the Vols or as long as the trip to Alabama last month, when the Crimson Tide scored 41 points on the Vols’ defense.

In Arkansas’ last loss, Auburn held the SEC’s highest scoring offense to just six points and held McFadden to just 43 yards.

McFadden was slowed by sore ribs in that game, the only time except for a runaway win over Florida International two weeks ago that the junior has failed to top the 100-yard mark in a game.

But those 541 rushing yards last week against South Carolina and McFadden’s record-setting day make the Auburn game seem a lot longer than just a month ago.

“Arkansas just mauled ‘em,” Fulmer said of the Razorbacks’ win over South Carolina. “That many rushing yards is not an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination. It gets back to big plays, when you give up big chunks of yards and big plays, that’s a problem.”

Wide receiver Marcus Monk, back from a knee injury, compounds that problem for the Vols.

In last year’s game, the 6-foot-6 Monk caught eight passes for 137 yards and two of Arkansas’ first three touchdowns.

For Tennessee’s offense, it’s less about huge chunks of yards than it is about points and time of possession.

Every offensive snap for the Volunteers is one that McFadden, Jones and the Razorbacks’ offense isn’t on the field.

Every point is a step closer to Atlanta and the Vols’ eventual goal.

“Our team knows every week is a challenge,” Fulmer said. “We’re certainly capable of meeting the challenge, but we’ve got to keep ourselves centered.”

If the Vols can do it again, they’ll be ahead of the game.

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