October 5, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.
by Matt Jones
FAYETTEVILLE — A redshirt freshman quarterback and a true freshman running back delivered for Arkansas in crunch time Saturday and led the Razorbacks to a stunning upset of the fourth-ranked Tennessee football team.
Filling in for injured starter Taylen Green, quarterback Malachi Singleton scored on an 11-yard keeper with 1:17 remaining to put Arkansas ahead and the Razorbacks won 19-14 in front of an announced crowd of 75,573. It was the sixth-largest attendance in stadium history.
Arkansas scored the game’s final 16 points after falling behind 14-3 in the third quarter.
“What a great couple of drives there at the end,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said following the game on ABC’s broadcast. “The defense ended up keeping us in it and then at the end won the game for us. I’m so proud for the kids, the coaches and these folks.”
Arkansas’ victory came hours after Vanderbilt upset top-ranked Alabama 40-35 in Nashville, Tenn. It marked the first time since The Associated Press poll was established in 1936 that a pair of top-5 SEC teams lost to unranked opponents on the same day.
The Razorbacks (4-2, 2-1 SEC) defeated a top-5 team for the first time since a 50-48 victory at No. 1 LSU in triple overtime in 2007, and did so in Fayetteville for the first time since 1999 when Arkansas defeated third-ranked Tennessee 28-24. That win resulted in fans tearing down the goal posts.
A similar scene unfolded following Saturday’s victory. Fans rushed the field but were unable to take down the collapsable goal posts.
Many fans stayed on the field for several minutes. The celebration included the playing of “Rocky Top,” the Tennessee fight song, over the stadium speakers.
Hog Calls could be heard from outside the stadium well after the game concluded and the field was cleared.
“We just beat the No. 4 team in the country,” said Arkansas defensive back Doneiko Slaughter, who transferred from Tennessee and made some key plays down the stretch. “We’ll be in the history of Arkansas forever.”
Singleton’s touchdown followed back-to-back runs of 24 and 11 yards by Braylen Russell on each side of the 2-minute timeout.
The 4-play, 59-yard drive also included a 13-yard pass from Singleton to Isaiah Sategna after the Razorbacks took over on their own 41 with 3:20 to play.
Singleton sputtered through two drives before he got rolling with the game on the line. His touchdown run put the Razorbacks ahead 19-14 before a 2-point pass to Sategna was stopped short of the goal line.
“Wasn’t that awesome?” Pittman said of Singleton, who finished 2-for-3 passing for 31 yards. “The kids rallied around him. He made a good throw and did a great job with his legs. This is a big, big win for the University of Arkansas.”
Tennessee (4-1, 1-1) reached the Arkansas 16 on the game’s final drive. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava had a 42-yard pass to Dont’e Thornton to the Arkansas 25 to convert third-and-2 with less than a minute remaining.
Facing fourth-and-6 from the 20, Iamaleava was forced out of bounds by defensive tackle Eric Gregory on a keeper as time expired.
“T-Will [defensive coordinator Travis Williams] and the guys had them ready to play,” Pittman said. “They played hard the entire night.”
Arkansas led 3-0 at halftime. Dylan Sampson scored on a pair of 4-yard touchdown runs early in the third quarter to put the Vols ahead 14-3.
Sampson, who rushed for 140 yards on 22 attempts, scored his SEC-leading 11th and 12th touchdown runs.
Arkansas pulled within 14-10 on Ja’Quinden Jackson’s 3-yard touchdown late in the third quarter. It was the 10th touchdown for Jackson, who has scored in every game.
It appeared the Razorbacks might take the lead early in the fourth following a running into the punter penalty that extended an Arkansas drive on the first play of the quarter. Green threw back-to-back passes of 22 yards to Tyrone Borden and 30 yards to Andrew Armstrong, but he was hit low by Tennessee defensive lineman Omar Norman-Lott on the pass to Armstrong and injured his left knee.
Green returned for one play on the next drive, then gave way to Singleton.
Speaking on the Razorback Sports Network after the game, Pittman called Green’s injury “a mild MCL” and said he thinks Green will be fine.
Jackson ran 9 yards to the Tennessee 5 following Green’s injury, but Singleton was unable to move the team further.
Matt Shipley’s 23-yard field goal cut the Vols’ lead to 14-13 with 12:08 remaining. It was the first attempt as a Razorback for Shipley, a transfer from Hawaii.
Starting kicker Kyle Ramsey made a 20-yard field goal to end a 9-minute, 12-second drive for Arkansas to open the game. Ramsey appeared to injure his groin when he missed a 44-yard field goal late in the first half.
Arkansas outgained Tennessee 223-76 in the first half and 336-332 for the game.
Iamaleava completed 16 of 28 passes for 156 yards and was sacked 4 times.
“Disappointing night,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said. “For us as a football team, I didn’t think we handled – or started fast, did [not do] the ordinary things at a high level offensively. We hurt ourselves consistently there in the first half. They were able to extend some drives, get some third-down conversions.
“At the end of the day, starting with me, it wasn’t good enough tonight.”
Green completed 19 of 27 passes for 266 yards before his injury. Armstrong had 9 catches for 132 yards and Sategna had 5 catches for 72 yards.
Why Arkansas Won
The Razorbacks’ defense was stout and allowed Arkansas’ offense time to eek out enough points against one of the nation’s top defensive units on the other side.
After struggling with turnovers for much of the season, Arkansas did not commit any turnovers against the Volunteers.
“If we are the same in turnovers as anybody in the country, we can play with them,” Pittman said. “Tonight we proved it.”
Player of the Game: Arkansas RB Braylen Russell
The freshman from Benton had 8 carries for 62 yards, including 35 yards on 2 touches on the game-winning drive.
Russell also converted a fourth-and-1 on an inside handoff during Arkansas’ first drive that led to a field goal.
Field Storm
Arkansas is expected to owe Tennessee $250,000 as part of the SEC’s rules related to fans entering the playing field. An official announcement is likely to come Monday.
Each SEC program’s number of offenses reset when the SEC retooled the fine structure last year.
Now teams will be fined $100,000 for the first offense, $250,000 for the second offense and $500,000 for all other offenses. When an offense occurs in a conference game, the fine is paid to the opposing team.
“I think [athletics director Hunter Yurachek] is going to be mad, or maybe he won’t be,” Pittman told ABC. “I don’t know. Right now I don’t care.”
Arkansas paid $100,000 to the league office last November after fans stormed the court following a basketball victory over Duke.
Up Next
Arkansas has next week off and will host No. 13 LSU on Oct. 19 in Fayetteville.
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