The No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks (41-12, 18-10 SEC) dropped Game 1 on Thursday to the No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers (41-13, 16-12 SEC) in a 10-7 loss at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.

Starter Zach Root was less-than-stellar in 3.2 innings pitched. He was tagged with seven hits, four earned runs and racked up four strikeouts and two walks on 68 pitches.

Offensively, the Diamond Hogs finished 15-for-40 at the plate, but left 12 runners on base. Logan Maxwell recorded three hits, while Charles Davalan, Kuhio Aloy, Reese Robinett and Justin Thomas Jr. each had two knocks.

Out of the bullpen, Gabe Gaeckle retired seven of his first nine batters before Tennessee finally figured him out. He ended up allowing four hits and three earned runs in his 2.2 innings pitched.

First Inning:

Arkansas starter Zach Root needed just eight pitches to work through the top of Tennessee’s order, working in a strikeout and two groundouts to complete the 1-2-3 frame.

The Razorbacks recorded two hits — singles by Charles Davalan and Logan Maxwell — but a groundball double play and strikeout prevented Arkansas from scoring.

Second Inning:

Tennessee scored the first run of the game to leadoff the second, a solo homerun to left field. The Volunteers followed that up with a single, but Root got his first out with a looking punchout. The southpaw got a lineout and another K to finish things off.

Cam Kozeal got ahead 3-1 in the Hogs’ half of the frame, but grounded out. Ryder Helfrick singled up the middle and Brent Iredale moved Helfrick to third with a single of his own. Reese Robinett walked to load the bases. Justin Thomas Jr. struck out on three pitches to bring up Davalan, who doubled home two runs to give Arkansas a 2-1 lead.

Third Inning:

Root surrendered a single to start the third, but a failed bunt attempt resulted in a foulout. After another single to give the Vols runners on the corners, Tennessee grounded into a frame-ending double play.

Besides a Maxwell walk, the Hogs didn’t get much going in the third offensively.

Fourth Inning:

Arkansas ran into some trouble in the fourth. After a groundout to start, Root got tagged with a single and then a walk. A strikeout and walk later, the Vols brought home two runs with a single past Wehiwa Aloy, to lead 3-2. Tennessee then led 4-2 after another single, which chased Root out of the game for Gabe Gaeckle, who got a swing and miss to get out of the jam.

Helfrick led off with a groundout, then Iredale got plunked with a pitch to give the Hogs a baserunner. After a Robinett walk and a Thomas fielder’s choice groundout, Davalan grounded out.

Fifth Inning:

Gaeckle worked around a walk in the fifth behind two strikeouts to bring Arkansas’ offense up, which scored a run on a Kuhio Aloyu double to make it 4-3, Vols.

Sixth Inning:

Other than a one-out single, Gaeckle again made easy work of the Volunteers to push the game along. The Razorbacks got a leadoff man via an Iredale walk, but after a flyout and then a stolen base by Iredale, Thomas lined out and Davalan struck out looking on a close call pitch.

Seventh Inning:

The seventh was a disaster for Arkansas’ pitching staff. A leadoff single scored off a two-run blast, which was followed up by another homer. Some more shenanigans took place before the Hogs finally escaped down 7-3.

Arkansas attempted to storm back in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, getting two men in scoring position thanks to a Kuhio Aloy single and Kozeal double. An Iredale lineout stranded the runners.

Eighth Inning:

Ben Bybee entered the game for Arkansas in the eighth and struckout two, walked two and got a lineout for the final out. It was a bit of a circus defensively in the bottom of the eighth after Robinett and Thomas singled to start things off.

After that, an error on a Davalan lineout resulted in both Robinett and Thomas getting into scoring position with one out. With his first hit of the game, Wehiwa Aloy drove in both runners to make it 7-5, Tennessee.

Maxwell continued the comeback attempt with a single to right, which advanced Wehiwa to third base. Kuhio Aloy reached first on a fielder’s choice groundout, which was enough to add another run to Arkansas’ total. With the Hogs down 7-6, Kozeal popped up to end the inning.

Ninth Inning:

With the game hanging in the balance, Arkansas handed the ball to lefty Hunter Dietz from the pen. That decision didn’t pan out, because after a leadoff single, Tennessee blasted a two-run shot to left field for some huge insurance runs. Another hard-hit single forced a pitching change to Christian Foutch, who struck out the first batter he faced.

However, a single and subsequent error by Maxwell in right field allowed the runner on first to come all the way home, which increased Tennessee’s lead to 10-6. Foutch drew the final two outs with a flyball and groundball.

A questionable strike three call retired Helfrick to lead off the bottom of the ninth, then Iredale grounded out to shortstop. Robinett snuck one through the infield for a two-out single, and he came around to score on a Thomas left-field single. The game came to an end on a Davalan groundout.

Louisville reportedly tried to set up a football home-and-home series with Tennessee.

After Nebraska backed out of a series with the Vols that was slated for 2026 in Lincoln and 2027 in Knoxville and had been scheduled for more than a decade earlier this year, the Cardinals were interested in filling the void on Tennessee’s schedule, according to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

The Vols instead announced a home-and-home series against Georgia Tech last month, reviving the rivalry between the two programs in Atlanta in 2026 and again at Neyland Stadium in 2027.

“After Nebraska canceled the series, our main focus was to secure another home-and-home matchup with an opponent from a Power Four conference, which seemed improbable at the time,” Tennessee athletic director Danny White said in a statement on April 9. “I sincerely appreciate Athletic Director J Batt’s creativity in modifying Georgia Tech’s schedule to make this series possible. We look forward to seeing plenty of orange in Atlanta in 2026!”

According to McMurphy, Louisville also tried to add Ole Miss to its future non-conference schedule but were turned down by the Rebels, who will play Washington State after Wake Forest bought out its contract last year.

The Cardinals have scheduled home-and-home games against Georgia, Texas A&M and Notre Dame in the coming years.

Tennessee has played Louisville five times previously, winning all five match ups dating back to 1914.

The two teams last played in a home-and-home series in 1991 and 1993 with the Vols beating the Cardinals, 28-11 at the since-demolished Cardinal Stadium and 45-10 at Neyland Stadium two years later.

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Tennessee has played an ACC team as part of its non-conference schedule for four-straight seasons. The Vols split a home-and-home series with Pittsburgh in 2021 and 2022 and beat Virginia in Nashville in its 2023 opener.

Tennessee routed NC State, 51-10 in the Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte last season. The Vols are set to opener their 2025 campaign against Syracuse in the Aflac Kickoff Classic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Aug. 30 (Noon ET, ABC).

Upcoming Tennessee schedules currently feature non-conference games against West Virginia in Charlotte in 2028 and a home-and-home series with Washington in 2029 (Knoxville) and 2030 (Seattle).

The Tennessee Titans have gone through a mini-makeover this offseason. When Brian Callahan was hired in 2024, Will Levis came with the team like furniture. This offseason, though, he drafted his own guy to be the hopeful future of the franchise.

Tennessee selected Miami quarterback Cam Ward in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. On top of that, they also added Stanford wide receiver Elic Ayomanor in the fourth round to complement the largely-veteran receiver room of Calvin Ridley and Tyler Lockett. Defensively, they drafted UCLA edge rusher Oluwafemi Oladejo in the second round and Penn State safety Kevin Winston in round three. This was after they signed left tackle Dan Moore and guard Kevin Zeitler in free agency.

On top of the good offseason of team-building the Titans have had, they also are set to face one of the easiest schedules in the NFL. Per Sharp Football Analysis, the Titans have the eighth-easiest schedule in the league.

On top of playing in one of the weaker divisions in football, the Titans have multiple winnable games on their schedule outside the AFC South, They play the Cleveland Browns, who could be in conention for a top five pick once again. They also play the New Orleans Saints, who very well may be the worst team in the NFL.

While it would be too much to expect for the Titans to take a huge step forward and become a playoff team in Year One of the Ward era, we did just see it happen twice in the NFL last year. Bo Nix took the Denver Broncos to the playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the AFC and Jayden Daniels led the Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship Game. With the schedule they are facing, combined with the division they are in, there is a greater than zero chance they can do what the Texans did in 2023 with C.J Stroud – surprise everyone and win the AFC South with a rookie quarterback.

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