Third Quarter Vs Tennessee Was Glimpse Of What Arkansas Offense Can Be At Its Best

FAYETTEVILLE — The third quarter of Arkansas' 24-17 loss to No. 14 Tennessee was the best the Razorback offense has played all season.

143 of Arkansas' 288 yards of offense in the game came in the third quarter, which was powered by a surprisingly rejuvenated, crisp rushing attack. Arkansas' first drive of the quarter was a five-play, 70-yard jaunt that began with a 27-yard scamper from Cam Settles and ended with a nine-yard touchdown run from Braylen Russell. Jamari Hawkins had a 22-yard carry on a reverse, while KJ Jackson ran for 11 yards on a drive that was all on the ground.

After a Miguel Mitchell interception, Arkansas continued to pound the rock. Sutton Smith ran for 27 yards on three plays and Jasper Parker added a six-yard run before Jackson threw the first pass of the quarter to Chris Marshall on Arkansas' 11th play of the second half.

The drive ended when Jackson threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Jaden Platt.

"My plan coming out was to run the ball," offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey said Tuesday. "So that was in my head, that was my plan coming out, and we had some success early then yes, we're going to keep going. We found something that was working and we stuck with it, and sometimes as a play caller you're trying to find that thing that that's working to try and stick with it. So we found it on those two drives, we stuck with it, hit a cut like I said, then once that's hitting then we hit the short little pass to Chris, then we hit the screen pass off of it, then we get them guessing.

"Then when you see a guy like Coach Knowles starting to bring more blitzes, you can tell he's getting a little frustrated with things. You know what I mean? So stick with it, work away off of that stuff, and continue going. But that was, yes, part of the plan, and it came out. The guys did a great job of executing it."

Arkansas Razorbacks offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey views his unit prior to the Tennessee game. | Nilsen Roman, Hogs On SI Images

Trailing 17-14, Arkansas final productive drive of the game ended with a 55-yard field goal from Max Gilbert that tied the game. Over its final four drives, Arkansas totaled only 41 yards on 19 plays. That included a three and out after a Shelton Lewis interception and a three and out on the final drive of the game before Ryan Silverfield made the controversial decision to punt on fourth and 10.

Cramsey was asked Tuesday if he would've done something different on the drive immediately after Lewis' interception, which set Arkansas up at its own 42 yard line with a chance to take the lead. Sutton Smith was stopped for no gain on first down, Jackson threw an incomplete pass on second down and Smith ran for only three yards on third down, forcing Arkansas to punt the ball back to the Volunteers.

"At that point in the game, we we ran the ball on first [down] for minimal [yardage]," Cramsey said. "We did not execute the pass play on the second down, got us into a third-and-long. So at that point in my mind, we weren't having success on third-and-long situations on Saturday. So at that point in my mind, our defense was playing really well. They were playing some two-high on those third-and-long situations. So initial thought process was sneak a run by them. Put us in a situation where we either we sneak that run for a first down, or we put ourselves into an attainable fourth down where we go for it.

"At the same time, in the back of my mind, I really liked the way the defense was playing at that point. So we hit a run. If it doesn't work, we punt it deep in their territory. We get the ball back. Same thing. But we need to execute better. Bottom line, a lot went through my mind on that third-down call, but the bottom line is I was trying to get ourselves trying to sneak a run by him in what he was doing those third-and-long situations, playing a little bit more coverage, and then at the same time trying to put us in a situation where a fourth-and-five, fourth-and-four is a is a go-for-it situation at that point, possible go for it situation at that point."

Arkansas has found success on the ground over the last two weeks, but the challenge for the Razorbacks is the passing game complimenting its ground attack. Jackson only threw for 111 yards against Texas A&M and 155 against Tennessee, and while he didn't throw an interception against the Volunteers, he had several costly misses, especially down the stretch.

The Razorbacks will face a Vanderbilt defense that gave up 52 points to Ole Miss on Saturday. The Commodores are giving up an average of 37 points per game in SEC play.

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