Vols Ready To Face Hogs
photo by UT Athletics
Coming off its first bye week of the season, the fourth-ranked Vols are preparing for yet another primetime road matchup in Fayetteville, Arkansas, against the Razorbacks.
For the third time this season, Tennessee will play on ABC with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. CT).
"Guys got back in the building today and had a good workout on the grass as we push forward to get ready for Arkansas," head coach Josh Heupel said.
"First of all, know it's going to be a great environment there. This is a really good football team."
Heupel praised his team's focused preparation during the open week, noting their hard work and intentionality in meetings and practices as they gear up for the Razorbacks.
"I felt the guys in the middle of the week worked extremely hard," Heupel said." They were intentional in the way that we went into meetings, trying to improve upon some things that we need to in all three phases of the game. Practice was really crisp, and the weekend off got them a chance to physically continue to heal up as we get ready for this week. Mentally, they get a little bit of a break as well. All in all, really good."
As the Vols prepare for the challenge of facing an Arkansas defense known for its tenacity, Heupel highlighted the Razorbacks' ability to create turnovers and stifle opponents' rushing attacks.
"That's the first part, they've created a bunch of turnovers," Heupel said. "I think they play extremely hard. All three levels of the defense are tied in on the run game. They've done a really good job against the rush and on third downs too. They make it difficult to pick up first downs and create explosive plays."