Submitted by admin on Mon, 2006-11-13 08:00. ::
Home › Sports › Football Story Tools E-mail this story Print FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- They walked off the field slowly late Saturday night, with a tired look of resignation, not quite sure what had just happened to them.
But before many of Tennessee's defenders found their way to the dressing room at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, they found No. 5 in his Razorback red jersey.
Rarely has a Tennessee defense been made to look foolish by one running back. But that's what Arkansas' Darren McFadden did to the Vols, particularly in the second quarter of the Hogs' 31-14 victory that moved the Hogs to No. 7 in the BCS rankings on Sunday and a victory away from winning the Southeastern Conference's Western Division.
In that 15 minutes of work when the Razorbacks produced a staggering 202 yards total offense to extend a 7-0 first- quarter lead to a 28-7 halftime advantage, McFadden ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.
"I'm going to leave playing (starting) quarterback up to Casey (Dick)," McFadden said with a smile after running for 181 yards in the win that moved the Razorbacks to 9-1 overall and 6-0 in the Western Division. "But when I lined up at quarterback, we threw a twist at them. The way our line was blocking, there were so many big holes I felt I should have scored every time I ran. Tennessee's defense really had a hard time."
They even called a timeout before McFadden's touchdown pass, but were sucked in by McFadden faking to Felix Jones, then taking a step toward the line of scrimmage as if he were about to again dance through the defense.
"We worked all week on their running game, but they trapped us and we didn't expect that," Vols' linebacker Ryan Karl said. "Arkansas is good at getting the defense off base."
What really had the Tennessee defense back on its heels were some of Arkansas' offensive line alignments when McFadden was the quartrback in the shotgun. Arkansas lined up its two starting tackles side-by-side, 6-5, 305-pound Tony Ugoh and 6-6, 335-pound Zac Tubbs.
"When we put Ugoh next to Tubbs," said Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, "the field was really leaning way to the right side. We've run that formation some before, and no one has really stopped it."
"Defenses are back on their heels and we're going to keep running the football until they stop us," Dick said. "Pretty much no one has stopped us running.
While the Razorbacks look to clinch the West on Saturday with a victory at Mississippi State, Tennessee, now 7-3 overall and 3-3 in the Eastern Division, is trying to stagger to a regular-season finish with the best possible bowl bid in hand.
As badly as Tennessee's defense played against Arkansas, the Vols' offense didn't pull its share of the weight. With Tennessee regular starting quarterback Erik Ainge sidelined with sprained ankles, the Razorbacks blitzed first-time starter Jonathan Crompton all night.
Crompton rarely got in rhythm, completing 16-of-34 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked four times, but unloaded a lot of passes quickly as he got hit.
"He (Crompton) got hit way too many times," Vols' center Josh McNeil said. "Arkansas got a lot of pressure on him, bringing more guys (on the pass rush) than we've seen all season."
Crompton said he was confused early by Arkansas' pass coverages. And with each unsuccessful Vols' offensive series, the record home Arkansas crowd of 76,728 became more jacked up.
"The sacks and the fact I got hit a lot was my fault," Crompton said. "You have a minimum amount of time to get the ball off, and I didn't do it."
As the Vols turn their attention to their last two games, at Vanderbilt on Saturday and at home in Knoxville against Kentucky on Nov. 25, the question is whether Ainge will be healthy enough to play.
Without him, it's like Tennessee's offense is playing with one-arm tied behind its back. Two wins by the Vols likely gets Tennessee in a New Year's Day Bowl. Another loss drops the Vols down the SEC bowl food chain.
"Erik worked very little last week, so we're hoping he's ready to go this week," said UT coach Phillip Fulmer during his Sunday teleconference.
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