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On Saturday, the Tennessee football story broke. His message: “Same old Vols.”

That's probably what many UT fans thought when unranked Arkansas defeated No. 1's outstanding offense. 4 Vols with a 19-14 win at Reynolds Razorbacks Stadium.

These fans have seen it all before. Just when they thought the Vols were soaring to great heights, UT crashed at the most unlikely time.

You saw it two years ago when the Vols were still in the running for the College Football Playoff. A mediocre South Carolina team ambushed them in Columbia with an incredible score of 63-38.

That was seen again in Fayetteville, where the Razorbacks have now won four of their last five games against the Vols.

Those victories included a 28-24 victory over the then third-ranked Vols, who were seeking back-to-back national championships before falling to Arkansas in November 1999. Then, in 2011, the Razorbacks handed the Vols one of their worst defeats – 49-7 under coach Bobby Petrino.

On Saturday, Petrino gave the decision to beleaguered Arkansas coach Sam Pittman, who started the season on the proverbial hot seat. But Arkansas' defense dealt the most devastating blow to Tennessee's championship hopes.

And Tennessee's renowned playing coach Josh Heupel couldn't do anything about it. Even quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who strangely ran out of bounds on the last play, was unable to do so.

The Vols faced a fourth-and-5 at the Arkansas 20-yard line with six seconds left in the game. Iamaleava rolled to his right and just kept rolling – just outside the court. The mistake was inexcusable. A junior high school quarterback should have known his only option was to throw into the end zone.

His last-second decision was indicative of Tennessee's offensive decision-making for much of the game.

Heupel's offense has never been as inept as it was in the first half. The Vols only managed four first downs and 76 yards.

The offensive line was at the mercy of Arkansas' defensive front in this half. It failed to protect Iamaleava, who was sacked three times, and failed to create running routes for Dylan Sampson, who averaged 112.3 yards in the first four games.

These four games contributed to the extent of the upset. The Vols, who had a 13.5-point advantage, never trailed in the first third of the season, in which they outscored the competition by a combined score of 216-28.

UT's offense couldn't have looked worse if it had communicated its play calls to the Razorbacks before every snap and then pointed them to their intended target.

The second half didn't bring any more of it. Suddenly Tennessee lived up to its role as favorite and scored two rushing touchdowns behind improved blocking and the running of Sampson.

Later, UT's rise could be summed up in two words: false hope.

Just as Tennessee had seized the momentum and seemingly taken control of the game, Arkansas struck back with a touchdown and a field goal. Then, in the final minutes, they pulled off a knockout despite losing starting quarterback Taylen Green and leading running back Ja'Quinden Jackson to injury.

Not to mention the fluctuation. Backup quarterback Malachi Singleton and backup running back Braylen Russell led the game-winning run.

Although the result was stunning, the lack of offense was not an isolated incident. The Vols failed to gain any yardage or points in their last game, a 25-15 win over Oklahoma.

POLLS: Tennessee football rankings: How far will Vols fall into top 25 after loss at Arkansas?

But I attributed that to conservative play, which made sense since UT's offensive line was hampered by a few key injuries and the Sooners weren't much of an offensive threat.

The offense against Arkansas was not intentional. It was a colossal failure against a defense that gave up three touchdown passes to UAB and more than 300 yards of passing to Oklahoma State.

These offensive struggles began with Heupel and ended with Iamaleava going out of bounds and suffering a defeat.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He can be reached at 865-342-6284 or [email protected]. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

On By John Fenwick

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