How much different Arkansas will be now that Sam Pittman has been fired and Bobby Petrino promoted to interim head coach is anyone's guess, and that could prove concerning for Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel and his Volunteers.
While the Razorbacks are certainly in a state of disarray as their coaching search gets underway, Petrino, a longtime head coach, including for Arkansas, may offer a different look in his first game at the helm of Arkansas since 2011. For that reason, Heupel is trying to prepare for anything that could get thrown his team's way come next Saturday.
“You dive as deep as you possibly can,” Heupel said [h/t On3's Daniel Hager]. “I think it’ll be important for us schematically to communicate and adjust on the field. But also, on the sidelines and staff and players together. Had a ton of success last year in the three-down front they did against us, preparing for that. We’ll adjust to anything else that we see.”
Tennessee, which is on a bye week, will enter the Oct. 11 game with a four-game losing streak to Arkansas. Although the teams have played only sparingly over the last two decades, almost every time, the Razorbacks have come out on top.
Last year, the teams played for the first time since 2020, and despite entering the game ranked in the top 10, the Volunteers' offense sputtered to a 19-14 loss in Fayetteville, marking not only the fourth straight loss to Arkansas but also continuing a trend in which they fail to score more than 20 points against the Razorbacks. The last time Tennessee beat or scored more than 20 points against Arkansas was 2007, when the Phillip Fulmer-led Vols won 34-13 in Knoxville.
Although snapping the losing streak would be a great bonus, a win next Saturday is almost a must for Tennessee if it wants to stay in contention for the College Football Playoff.
With a loss to Georgia three weeks ago, any more defeats — and especially against 2-3 Arkansas — could run the risk of the Volunteers being on the outside looking in on the 12-team postseason. The rest of the SEC schedule doesn't help in that regard either, as Tennessee has three currently ranked opponents left on its schedule: Oklahoma and rivals Alabama and Vanderbilt.
