Tennessee finds plan that works

FAYETTEVILLE — Tennessee was sick and tired of hearing about Darren McFadden and the WildHog and the Heisman Trophy and Felix Jones.

So the Volunteers went out and did something about it.

Tennessee held McFadden to a hard-earned 117 rushing yards, caught a break when Jones suffered a deep thigh bruise, and limited the nation’s fourth-rated rushing offense to 127 yards in a 34-13 victory over the Razorbacks.

“I definitely heard about them enough,” linebacker Rico McCoy said. “That gets to you. That bites you. That just p **** d everyone off.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Tennessee, which ranked No. 74 nationally in stopping the run heading into the game, schemed to stop the WildHog formation and made it work by making quick reads, fighting off blocks and getting to McFadden and the Arkansas ball carriers.

“All the coaches — everybody — felt we were ready to go,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said during his Sunday news conference. “But you can tell watching today’s film, I was just disappointed. Especially the offensive line. We are much, much better than that and we have got to have much more fight than that.”

Senior guard Robert Felton’s Saturday night take: “I don’t know if it was missed assignments, if it was us falling off blocks. I don’t know if they just had an extra guy over there. I really couldn’t tell you what we were doing until I see the tape. Just from my standpoint, maybe we fell off blocks a few times.”

Arkansas had just one first down in the first half, and had no drives of more than six plays until the third quarter.

McFadden, still ailing with sore ribs, couldn’t find the groove he got into last week, as Tennessee’s defensive line dominated the trenches.

“I thought I might have taken on a lineman once all day,” Tennessee linebacker Jerod Mayo said.

Arkansas senior fullback Peyton Hillis said the Hogs didn’t come with their A-games and that Arkansas’ lack of production from the WildHog was confusing.

“I mean, they’re D-I coaches and they get paid millions of dollars a year to figure out that stuff and [we ] hoped that they would,” Hillis said. “It’s also, if we run our plays to the effect that we can, there’s no way they can stop them and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis uncorked a solid game plan for his unheralded defense. “I don’t want this to come off wrong because I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Arkansas,” Chavis said. “But I felt, and we felt as a coaching staff, that if we got lined up they’d have a tough time moving the football on us.”

Injury report Tailback Felix Jones is questionable for the Razorbacks’ home finale on Saturday after suffering a deep thigh bruise in the first half against Tennessee. Jones was thrown down out of bounds at the end of his 48-yard kickoff return to open Arkansas’ first possession of the game and his thigh apparently slammed into the ground.

“He tried to go a few more plays in the second quarter but it kept getting tighter and tighter,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. “We’ll know more this week how extensive that injury is going to be for him.... You can sure tell the difference when he went out of there.”

Jones managed just 3 rushing yards on three carries, the lowest total of his career when he’s had more than one carry. He now averages 103 rushing yards per game, 30 th in the country.

“He’s a quick healer,” Nutt said. “In his mind, he’ll be back.”

Nutt also said he doesn’t think Jones’ thigh bruise is on the scale of the one Peyton Hillis suffered last season against Tennessee, causing him to miss the final four games of the year.

Offensive tackle Jose Valdez will be limited in practice again this week after playing off and on with a twisted ankle against Tennesse.

“We knew Jose Valdez was going to be [playing ] hurt, probably should have took him out a little earlier,” Nutt said. Fourth-down flub

Asked why Darren McFadden wasn’t on the field for Arkansas’ failed fourthand-1 in the second quarter, Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt didn’t really answer.

“Well, it’s about 6 inches. maybe half a foot, I don’t know, a yard or less,” Nutt said. “You’ve got to be able to get a yard or less.”

From the Power I, Peyton Hillis got the carry on that play from the Arkansas 45, but the Vols got great penetration and linemen Dan Williams and J. T. Mapu combined to stop Hillis for no gain. “They all slant to that side, the nose crosses our face, we miss the backside blocks and didn’t get it done,” Nutt said. “I remember two guys getting underneath when I got the ball,” Hillis said. “They knew it was coming and got really good penetration. I take full responsibility.”

OL shuffle ? No major moves appear to be in the works for Arkansas’ offensive front, but Coach Houston Nutt said there will be contingencies if tackle Jose Valdez is unable to play this week. One possibility is moving Robert Felton to Valdez’s left tackle slot and having DeMarcus Love play right guard for Felton. The other option is simply moving Ray Dominguez up, as the Razorbacks did Saturday, to play left tackle.

Worth noting

Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden surpassed Florida’s Errict Rhett for fourth place on the SEC career rushing chart and now has 4, 191 yards in his 35-game career. McFadden also has 20 career 100-yard rushing games, including both his games vs. Tennessee.

Arkansas fell to 3-13 alltime against the Volunteers, including 1-6 in games played in Knoxville.

Arian Foster’s unimpeted 59-yard touchdown dash over left tackle was the longest run of the season for Tennessee.

Tennessee cornerback Eric Berry passed Arkansas’ Jerell Norton for the SEC lead in interception return yardage with two interceptions that he returned for 98 yards.

The Volunteers are 30-1 in November SEC home games since 1985, with the only loss coming against Vanderbilt in 2006.

Up next The Razorbacks finish their home schedule with a 1 p. m. non-televised game against Mississippi State in Little Rock. The Bulldogs (6-4, 3-3 SEC ) beat Alabama 17-12 Saturday to become bowl-eligible for the first time since 2000. With record 10 SEC teams bowl-eligible, this matchup at War Memorial Stadium might be a play-in game for a postseason berth.

Overheard “They’ve been under a lot of heat. They’re playing for their coach, back against the wall, I mean, we’ve all been there. So, we knew they could play. Knew they could play and now you’ve got to find a way to put this one behind you and go get the next one.” — Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt on Tennessee’s 34-13 victory over the Razorbacks. Players of the week OFFENSE Darren McFadden Darren McFadden ran 22 times for a well-earned 117 yards. There weren’t a lot of seams to exploit for the Heisman hopeful, who steamrolled South Carolina for 321 rushing yards last week. McFadden’s longest run of the day was 20 yards. DEFENSE Adrian Davis Sophomore end Adrian Davis had three unassisted tackles and contributed to a unit that had five stops behind the line of scrimmage. Davis added 4 assisted tackles and finished the day with 7 total tackles and 1 tackle for a 5-yard loss.