Tennessee football dropped its first game of the season 19-14 at Arkansas on Saturday night.

Vols’ quarterback Nico Iamaleava struggled and had 158 passing yards with no touchdowns. Dylan Sampson had 138 rushing yards and two touchdowns to lead the Vols’ rushing attack.

Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green threw for 266 yards but had to leave the game in the second half with an injury. He was replaced by Malachi Singleton, who ran in the game-winning touchdown.

The Razorbacks had a long 16-play 74-yard drive that took 9:12 off the clock. However, the Vols’ defense held the Razorbacks to a field goal and were down 3-0 with 5:48 left in the first quarter. The Vols then went three-and-out thanks to some penalties by the offensive line, but the Razorbacks turned it over on downs and failed to take early control of the game.

The Vols continued to do nothing on offense, but still only trailed 3-0 due to a fourth down stop by the defense when Arkansas was deep in Tennessee territory. The defense would continue to hold up for Tennessee and got another break when Arkansas missed a 44-yard field goal and failed to put any more distance between themselves and the Vols.

It was the worst offensive half of head coach Josh Heupel’s time at Tennessee. The Vols scored no points in the first half for the first time under Heupel and only had 76 yards compared to 222 for the Razorbacks. It was the first time in Heupel’s 80 career games as a head coach that he was held scoreless in the first half. Tennessee also only had 15 rushing yards at halftime and was getting dominated in the time of possession battle, 9:26 to 20:34. The Vols’ defense was the only reason they were still in the game.

The start of the third quarter was exactly what the Vols needed. They took the ball 73 yards and scored the first touchdown of the game with a short Sampson run. The biggest play of the drive was a 53-yard run by Sampson that finally gave the Vols an explosive play and they led 7-3. After a stop, the Vols scored a again to take a 14-3 lead with 8:19 left in the third quarter.

The Razorbacks finally found the endzone with their own eight-play 75 yard touchdown drive capped off by a Ja’Quinden Jackson touchdown run. A running into the kicker penalty extended an Arkansas drive that ended in a field goal to cut the lead to 14-13 with 12:08 to play in the game. Green had to leave the game with an injury he sustained on that drive.

Tennessee couldn’t not put the hame away on offense and gave the ball back to Arkansas and backup quarterback Singleton. He was able to get the Razorbacks into the endzone with his legs and give them a 19-14 lead with 1:17 to play after a failed two point conversion.

The Vols could not score on their ensuing drive and the Razorbacks held on to win.

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The clock may be ticking for Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis, and one AFC South coach seems to think his time may be running thin.

Titans head coach Brian Callahan has maintained that Levis will keep the job, but another coach win the division disagrees.

“It’s only a matter of time before Mason Rudolph takes over,” the coach said, via Dianna Russini of The Athletic.

Tennessee signed Rudolph in free agency for this exact reason. Rudolph has plenty of starting experience from his Pittsburgh Steelers days, and while he did not necessarily light it up during his six-year tenure with the club, he was still a solid backup.

Last season, Rudolph stepped in for an injured Kenny Pickett and even led the Steelers to the playoffs, throwing for 719 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions while completing 74.3 percent of his passes in four appearances and three starts.

The Titans selected Levis in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Levis ultimately supplanted Ryan Tannehill under center midway through his rookie campaign and hit the ground running, throwing four touchdown passes in his first start.

However, Levis then amassed a grand total of three touchdown tosses over his final eight starts last season. He hasn’t been much better in 2024, registering 604 yards, four touchdowns and a league-worst six picks through four games.

It should be noted that Levis suffered an AC joint sprain in his shoulder and left the game after throwing just four passes against the Miami Dolphins last week.

Tennessee spent considerable money during the offseason to try and compete in the AFC South, but the Titans have gotten off to a 1-3 start heading into their Week 5 bye.

Levis’ subpar play is a major reason for Tennessee’s struggles.

Make sure you bookmark Tennessee Titans on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

Things look hopeless for the Tennessee Titans early in the 2024 NFL season.

The Titans did beat the Miami Dolphins for their first win of the year this past Monday, but the Dolphins were missing Tua Tagovailoa and are one of the only teams that looks more hapless than Tennessee right now.

Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon lit into the Titans, essentially saying that there isn’t much to be excited about in Tennessee the rest of the way.

“It will become increasingly difficult to comment on this going-nowhere team and its collection of mediocre quarterbacks surrounded by a plethora of players that are either beyond their primes or never hit ’em,” Gagnon wrote.

Yeesh, that’s bad.

The Titans actually appeared to be a sleeper team heading into the season as a result of a rather decent-looking roster on paper. But the game isn’t played on paper.

Plus, Tennessee’s success in 2024 largely hinged on the performance of quarterback Will Levis, who has looked awful through the first several weeks and ended up getting injured after just four passes versus Miami. Mason Rudolph then led the Titans to victory.

Tennessee has a bye in Week 5, but Levis—who is dealing with an AC joint sprain—may be ready to go against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 6.

The question is, would the Titans be better off with Rudolph under center?

Even if they would, Rudolph doesn’t exactly inspire a ton of confidence, which makes you wonder if Tennessee was better off losing out for the remainder of the season and then drafting a quarterback.

The Titans could very well end up selling off some pieces between now and the Nov. 5 NFL trade deadline. What they do during that period of time will tell us a lot about the direction of the team going forward.

Make sure you bookmark Tennessee Titans on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!