Tennessee suffered its first football loss of the 2024 season. This loss would come at the hands of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The final score was 19-14 and the Vols would fall to No. 8 in the AP poll.

The defensive effort received mixed reviews from many social media companies, leading Tennessee to voice their opinions on each position group's defensive evaluation report on SI.

This group played well for most of the contest and only suffered a few big plays in the run game. They did a great job limiting Taylen Green's yardage to -5 yards on the day with nine rushing attempts. That was the clear game plan for the game, as they hoped to stop Green's passing ability, but they would find it difficult to do so. Tennessee would only sack Green twice. Once from star edge rusher James Pearce Jr. and another from Daevin Hobbs. Tennessee also did a good job, totaling seven tackles for a loss. Even those credited to defensive backs or linebackers were, most of the time, thanks to great play from the defensive line. Bryson Eason would get injured in this game and not return, which is not a good sign.

The Vols linebackers did a great job stopping everything that came through the defensive line. Not many plays made it past the second level in the running game. Keenan Pili would have a fantastic game with a total of 14 tackles and 4 solo tackles on the day. Arion Carter would have 1.5 TFLs, 8 total tackles and 1 pass deflection on the day, making him the complete counterpart to an already solid version of Pili. Jeremiah Telander was no problem coming off the bench and looked like he belonged out there. The worst part is the number of passes in the middle. Overall, it was a solid day for this group.

This was the worst Tennessee group of the day. Tennessee couldn't get a stop in the secondary. Several players would dominate the defensive backcourt. Tennessee would not only be beaten in the passing game, but they would be exposed. There haven't been many bright spots in this group and a lot of that can be attributed to great passes from Green. Andre Armstrong had 9 catches for 132 yards on the day and Isaiah Sategna would have 5 catches for 72 yards. Tennessee can't struggle like it does when it's playing against even more talented groups like Alabama, when it's playing against players like Ryan Williams. If this continues it will be a long season.

Tennessee's next game will be against the Florida Gators, who return to Neyland Stadium after a two-game, three-week away stretch.

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