What Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said about the Arkansas game on the SEC Teleconference

Everything Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said during his appearance on the SEC Football Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday, previewing his fourth-ranked Vols going to Arkansas for Saturday night’s game (7:30 Eastern Time, ABC) at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville:

Opening Statement

“Good afternoon everybody. Big football game in front of us this week. Obviously we’re playing a really good Arkansas football team. You can look really in every phase of the game and see that they’re playing well. It’s a football team that’s a couple plays away from being undefeated and I know that’ll be a great environment Saturday night. So we got to do ordinary things at a really high level and, and play extremely smart football to give ourselves a chance in this one. Defensively, those guys are doing a great job against the run. And really all three levels of the defense are playing in coordination, in sync. And offensively, their ability to run the football, running back is playing extremely well. And their quarterback, being as mobile as he is, got a chance to have a huge impact on the football game. So we got to do a great job on him on quarterback designed runs. We got to do a great job of as we’re applying pressure and trying to push the pocket, not letting him escape and extend and make plays. And it’s a football game that our team’s looking forward to. They’ve had good preparation so far this week. We got to continue to prepare the right way to give ourselves a chance to go play good football on Saturday.”

Tennessee transfers Addison Nichols and Doneiko Slaughter starting for Arkansas

“That’s the era of college football that we’re in, where you have an opportunity to, at times during the season, play guys that were inside of your own program. And those two guys are really good kids. They do things the right way off the field. They compete extremely hard on the field and both of those guys are playing extremely well for Arkansas right now.” 

How different this Arkansas team is from last season, what Tennessee has seen while preparing for the Razorbacks

“I just think they’re playing extremely well in all three phases of the game. They play smart football, don’t give up a ton of big plays defensively. They’ve been really good against the run. They’re big, strong physical. I think on the offensive side of the football, the quarterback is a difference maker for them. And just as a complete team, they’re playing extremely well together. And like I said, they are a couple plays away from being undefeated. I have a ton of respect for coach. I think he does a great job. He’s one of the good good guys in the business. You can tell that his team believes in him and that they play extremely hard for him.”

Arkansas’ ability to convert on third down this season and what he’s seen out of Bobby Petrino as the offensive coordinator

“Yeah, coach has done a really good job for a really long time on the offensive side of the football. And that’s him being able to subtly tweak what he’s seeing from the structure on the other side of the football, the defenses that he is facing. He’s put his guys in a position to be successful. They’re playing smart football, assignment sound on the offensive side of the football, o-line is playing extremely well. And then, you know, they put their quarterback in a position where he’s got a chance to impact the football game.”

If he sees any vulnerability in Arkansas’ protection as it prepares to face Tennessee’s pass rush

“Yeah, their offensive line is playing well, in my opinion. We’ve done a good job of affecting the quarterback. That’s with our front four and also being able to do that within our pressure packages on normal downs and third down. Our pressures, I think we’ve gotten better. Fundamentally, we’ve done a better job of keeping contain within our pressure packages. Our linebackers and safeties have done a nice job when they’ve been pressuring. In this football game, the quarterback’s ability to escape is something that all 11 gotta do a great job of understanding. And if he does break contain, we gotta find a way to make him uncomfortable. You gotta chase him down. He’s got great speed. We gotta do a great job of matching out the wide receivers on scramble drill.”

Arkansas running back Ja’Quinden Jackson

“Man, he is a really good player. I think he does a great job of pressing the line of scrimmage, using the double teams, escaping to space when it’s time to. Does a good job of getting behind his pads as well at the end of the run.”