KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Steve Spurrier had it backward.

The South Carolina coach declared Arkansas a three-touchdown favorite over Tennessee after the Razorbacks ran all over his team last week. He missed by six touchdowns.

No. 24 BCS Tennessee (7-3 overall, 4-2 SEC ) stayed in control of the muddled SEC East race by putting the brakes on the fast-break Arkansas running game and eating up the clock in a 34-13 victory before a crowd of 104, 459 at Neyland Stadium on Saturday.

Arkansas (6-4, 2-4 ) came in riding a three-game winning streak and a week of adulation in the wake of its groundbased destruction of the Gamecocks. But the Volunteers held the Razorbacks running game to 127 yards, far below its season average of 315 yards per game.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We never got going. I never got going. Just the whole team was out of rhythm,” said Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden, who followed his SEC record-tying 321-yard rushing performance with a 117-yard effort against Tennessee.

The Volunteers scored a touchdown on their first possession, got a 78-yard kickoff return from Dennis Rogan and a field goal on their second series, then put a strangelhold on the ball while squeezing the Razorbacks’ vaunted WildHog offense and their powerhouse running game.

“They stayed on the field, it seemed, the entire first half, [and ] we had too many three-and-outs,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said.

“The first thing I want to tell you is never doubt the heart of a Volunteer,” said Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer, whose program has been subject to much the same criticism in his home state as Nutt has in Arkansas. “It was a great team win, and the game was won in the preparation.”

Tennessee converted on 7 of 16 thirddown plays from its patient no-huddle attack, and kept possession nearly seven minutes more than Arkansas.

The Vols forced five three-and-out possessions, won the takeaway battle 3-0 and kept the WildHog formation with McFadden at quarterback from erupting as it did last week and in Arkansas’ 31-14 victory over the Vols last season.

“It seems like they were game-planning to keep us off the field, running the clock down to 1 or 2 seconds every time,” McFadden said. Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge completed 12 of 25 passes for 128 yards, his second-lowest output of the year. But he connected on a series of thirddown passes to keep the Vols offense in business, threw touchdown strikes to Austin Rogers and Josh Briscoe, and wore a big smile after the game.

“This is as big as it gets, playing against a team like Arkansas, who was as hot as any team in the country coming in here,” Ainge said. “They were just coming off a 500-yard rushing game. They kind of had everything going for them, the most takeaways on defense, this and that, all these statistics in their favor. I think we almost felt disrespected.” Tennessee won despite being outgained 289-279 in total yardage and being held to 132 yards less than its pergame average.

Tennessee’s game plan on defense revolved around tying up Arkansas ’ linemen by having their front four stay square and hold their ground, allowing the linebackers and defensive backs to fill gaps in run support.

“They didn’t throw the football exceptionally well at all, so we wanted to keep people in a good run-support position, and we took some reads off their backs and tight ends that alerted our guys to trigger quicker,” Fulmer said.

“A realistic goal was to hold those guys to under 100 yards rushing,” said linebacker Jerod Mayo, whose 34-yard interception return for a touchdown sealed the victory with 2: 46 remaining. “You guys might not think that’s realistic, but we’re very optimistic when it comes to setting goals. They got a lot of yards in the fourth quarter, but other than that, what did they get ?”

Arkansas seemed antsy to get its WildHog established, a play-calling plan that was disturbed by an early thigh injury to tailback Felix Jones, and made tougher by Tennessee’s anti-WildHog scheming and sure tackling.

“If you could do it again you’d like to start base personnel and trickle into the other stuff,” Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee said. “But I was so hyped and geeked from the week before using all the motion, I wanted to see if they could stop it. Well, they did a good job.”

Tennessee extended its first-half scoring advantage in its past four home games to 93-3 by outscoring the Razorbacks 20-3, applying that much more pressure to the struggling Arkansas offense.

“We didn’t execute properly,” Nutt said. “Three-and-out, three-and-out is no good. It takes a toll on your defense. You’ve got to put up points in this league.”

Arkansas finished with 127 rushing yards, 415 yards fewer than last week against South Carolina, and lots of frustration.

“A team like us, we’re used to the big runs,” offensive guard Robert Felton said. “We’re used to seeing an inside run play hit for 40, 50, 60 yards.

“ We just couldn’t get our run established. We couldn’t get our Arkansas football established.”