6 Tennessee football takeaways after nerve-racking win over Arkansas

Tennessee football scored 24 unanswered points to outlast Arkansas for a 34-31 win amid a nervous sellout crowd at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 11.

For a while, it looked like a repeat of UT’s 19-14 upset loss at Arkansas in 2024.

The 12th-ranked Vols (5-1, 2-1 SEC) trailed 17-10 in the second quarter to the pesky Razorbacks (2-4, 0-2) in former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino’s first game as interim coach.

But UT pieced together a few productive drives and clamped down on defense to go ahead 34-17 early in the fourth quarter. Arkansas then cut it to 34-31 with 2:55 remaining.

But the Vols held on for the home victory.

UT had lost four straight to Arkansas in the series. That had been the Vols’ second-longest losing streak to an SEC team, trailing only a nine-game skid against Georgia.

No. 12 Tennessee plays No. 8 Alabama on Oct. 18 (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

Here are six takeaways from the Vols’ home win over Arkansas.

Strip sack and touchdown gave Vols breathing room

Early in the fourth quarter, Joshua Josephs hit Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green’s arm as he attempted to throw a pass, and the ball popped loose. It was ruled a fumble, and freshman linebacker Jadon Perlotte recovered at the Arkansas 19-yard line.

Four plays later, Peyton Lewis scored on a 3-yard TD run to extend UT’s lead from 27-17 to a more comfortable 34-17.

It was a key turnaround because UT had failed to even gain a first down after recovering two previous fumbles.

DeSean Bishop rushed for career high, left game with injury

DeSean Bishop, a former Karns standout, became UT's first player to rush for 100 yards this season.

Bishop ran for a career-high 146 yards and one TD on 14 carries. He left the game in the third quarter with an apparent right leg injury and did not return.

Lewis replaced him and scored a pair of rushing TDs to extend UT's lead from 20-17 to 34-17 early in the fourth quarter.

UT rushed for 264 yards as a team.

Joey Aguilar runs passing streak to 30 games

Quarterback Joey Aguilar was 16-of-25 passing for 221 yards and one TD. He was solid passing and protected the ball, and he broke off a 28-yard run in the final three minutes to help seal the win.

Aguilar kept up his 200-yard passing streak. He has passed for at least 200 yards in all 30 starts of his Division I career, including six at UT and 24 at Appalachian State. That’s the longest active streak in FBS.

Braylon Staley reaches 100 yard receiving in first half

Redshirt freshman receiver Braylon Staley took his turn in the spotlight with six receptions for a career-high 109 yards. He had 105 of those yards in the first half, including a 42-yard catch that set up a TD.

It was Staley’s first 100-yard game. Chris Brazzell and Mike Matthews already had three and two 100-yard games, respectively, this season.

Tennessee did nothing with early Arkansas turnovers

UT’s defense recovered a pair of fumbles in the first and third quarters, but neither resulted in points. In fact, the Vols didn’t gain a first down after those takeaways.

In the first quarter, edge rusher Jordan Ross recovered an Arkansas fumble near midfield. But UT ran the ball on first down and had two incompletions for a three-and-out.

In the third quarter, Arion Carter recovered a fumble at the UT 14-yard line. UT had a two-yard loss on first down and followed with two incompletions for another three-and-out.

Of course, the Vols turned around that trend with Perlotte's critical fumble recovery and Lewis' TD run in the fourth quarter.

Josh Heupel wins again at Neyland Stadium, after open date

UT coach Josh Heupel improved to 28-5 at Neyland Stadium during his tenure, which began in 2021, with a 24th consecutive sellout.

He has a 25-2 record in his last 27 home games with both losses coming to Georgia during that period.

DICKEY: Former Tennessee coach Doug Dickey honored at Neyland Stadium vs Arkansas

UT had a 14-game home winning streak that was bookended by losses to Georgia in 2021 and 2023. It was the program’s longest home winning streak since winning 23 straight from 1996-2000. And then it won nine straight home games from late 2023 to 2025.

Heupel also improved to 10-2 following an open date in his career.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email [email protected]. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee vs Arkansas analysis: 6 key takeaways from win over Arkansas