Tennessee suffered their first football loss of the 2024 season. That loss would come from the hands of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The final score was 19-14 and the Vols would drop down to No. 8 in the AP Poll.

The defensive effort was judged differently by many social media entities which led to Tennessee on SI bringing their opinions on the defensive grade report of each position group.

This group played well for the majority of the contest only giving up a few big plays in the run game. They did a great job limiting Taylen Green’s running ability holding him to -5 yards on the day with 9 attempts to break through. That was the clear game plan coming into the game as they would hope to stop Green’s passing ability and would struggle to do so. Tennessee would sack Green only twice. Once from star edge rusher James Pearce Jr. and another from Daevin Hobbs. Tennessee also did a good job with tackles for loss having seven total. Even the ones that were credited to the defensive backs or linebackers were thanks to a great defensive line play a majority of the time. Bryson Eason would have an injury in this one and wouldn’t return which isn’t a good sign.

The Vols linebackers did a great job stopping anything that got through the defensive line. Not many plays made it past the second level in the run game. Keenan Pili would have an amazing game having 14 total tackles with 4 solo tackles on the day. Arion Carter would have 1.5 TFLs, 8 total tackles, and 1 pass deflection on the day to be the complete counterpart to an already solid version of Pili. Jeremiah Telander wasn’t a drop-off when subbing in and he looked like he belonged out there. The worst factor about this is the amount of passes across the middle. Overall it was a solid day for this group.

This was the worst Tennessee group of the day. Tennessee could not get a stop in the secondary. Multiple players would dominate the defensive backroom. Tennessee would not only get beat in the pass game but they would be exposed. There weren’t many bright spots in this group and a lot of this is because of great passes from Green. Andre Armstrong would have 9 catches for 132 yards on the day and Isaiah Sategna would have 5 catches for 72 yards. Tennessee cannot struggle like this when they play even more talented groups such as Alabama when they will face players like Ryan Williams. If this carries over it will be a long season.

Tennessee is set to take on the Florida Gators in their next contest as they return to Neyland Stadium after a two game and three week road stretch.

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Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium was filled with a sea of red Saturday night as fans stormed the field after Arkansas football’s defense came up with the stop to knock off then-No. 4 Tennessee.

But the celebration came at a cost, a hefty one.

On Sunday afternoon, the Southeastern Conference announced that Arkansas would be fined $250,000 for violating the conference’s access to competition area policy. The press release mentioned that it is the second time that Arkansas has violated the league’s policy, explaining why the Razorbacks were fined more than Vanderbilt, who also had a field storming after knocking off then-No. 1 Alabama.

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As noted by The Athletic, Arkansas’ first violation of the SEC’s access to competition area policy came during last year’s men’s basketball season when the Razorbacks defeated No. 9 Duke 80-75 in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

By the rule of the conference’s policy, which was revised in 2023 at the SEC Spring Meeting, the Razorbacks will pay $250,000 to Tennessee.

Behind Andrew Armstrong’s game-high 132 receiving yards on nine receptions, the Razorbacks not only picked up their biggest win of the Sam Pittman era in Fayetteville but also their first win over an AP top-five team since 1999, which ironically also came against Tennessee.

SEC football field storming violation policy, fines

Here’s the SEC’s access to competition area policy, i.e. the conference’s field storming policy

“Institutions shall limit access to competition areas to participating student-athletes, coaches, officials, support personnel and properly credentialed or authorized individuals at all times.  For the safety of participants and spectators alike, at no time before, during or after a contest may spectators enter the competition area.“

As noted by the SEC, financial penalties range from $100,000 for a first offense, $250,000 for a second offense and $500,000 for a third and more offenses.

Josh Heupel’s No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday night in Fayetteville, AR, with a 19-14 loss to the unranked Arkansas Razorbacks.

Tennessee only trailed by a field goal at halftime despite an awful first half offensively and even jumped out to a 14-3 lead just a few minutes into the third quarter with back-to-back touchdowns from Dylan Sampson. It was Arkansas, though, who was able to come in clutch during crunch time with a 16-0 run to close the game over the Vols.

After the contest, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with the media to give his reaction to the game. Heupel was followed by three Tennessee players including QB Nico Iamaleava, RB Dylan Sampson, and LB Keenan Pili.

More from RTI: Are Tennessee Football’s Offensive Issues Fixable?

Check out all four postgame interviews below:

Tennessee HC Josh Heupel

Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava

Tennessee RB Dylan Sampson

Tennessee LB Keenan Pili