As the crowd rushed the field in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday night, one couldn’t help but feel joy for Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman.
A man who had been on every hot-seat list in the country going into the season must have felt exonerated after Arkansas’ dramatic upset victory over No. 4 Tennessee.
For an Arkansas team that had coughed up wins against Oklahoma State and Texas A&M, finding enough gas in the tank to shock the mighty Volunteers would’ve been seen before the game as laughable. The only thing Arkansas fans wanted to see on Saturday night was fight and effort.
They got a heck of a lot more than that.
Arkansas held a 3-0 halftime lead, but two quick scores by Tennessee made it a 14-3 deficit.
Arkansas fans had seen this movie before: Get a lead, fail to make adjustments and watch the other team come roaring back faster than you can call the Hogs.
That wasn’t the case on Saturday, however, as Arkansas scored 10 unanswered to cut Tennessee’s lead to just a point with 12:08 to play.
With Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green sidelined by injury, the game rested in the hands of backup Malachi Singleton, who had every excuse to fold under pressure.
But as fate would have it, it was Singleton who put a wild band of Razorbacks on his back, running in for the go-ahead score.