{"id":81074,"date":"2025-10-11T11:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=81074"},"modified":"2025-10-10T23:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T03:52:11","slug":"five-questions-needing-answers-in-knoxville-for-arkansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/10\/11\/five-questions-needing-answers-in-knoxville-for-arkansas\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Questions Needing Answers In Knoxville For Arkansas"},"content":{"rendered":"
As Arkansas makes the road trip to Knoxville to battle the Vols<\/a>, there are many questions surrounding this program. We at Last Word are inquisitive about a handful of questions that will need to be answered in the game. Some are off the field, yet these answers will be more difficult to fully answer in week six. With fans clamoring for change, we saw swift action that trickled to more staff changes.<\/div>\n

Five Questions Needing Answers In Knoxville For Arkansas<\/h2>\n

Did the Change Matter?<\/h3>\n
We spoke of the extensive changes following<\/a> the Notre Dame loss. With this past week being a bye, we will now see the first game of the Bobby Petrino era, 2.0. Whether these changes matter is a question that will be interpreted in many different ways on Saturday. With a struggling offense that has struggled to score, this is not the game to continue this trend. Headed to Knoxville after a close loss to Georgia two weeks ago is not ideal.<\/div>\n
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This week, during the SEC coaches’ availability, Petrino spoke highly of how the team had embraced his style of coaching and preparation. With a week of this new edition of Arkansas football, can Petrino work magic? We do not see this being a David Copperfield act where a new team appears on the field. With this, we can see how this team will play inspired, but will this last for four quarters? We will find out.<\/div>\n

Does the Defense Have Direction?<\/h3>\n
With an entirely new leadership team defensively, will this unit have direction? This is deeper than just tackling and running on the field. This is about buying in and playing with pride, as this unit has been gashed all season. With a group that was recruited to an aggressive man style, can they adjust to a new man in charge? These are subtopic questions within the larger one that are all vital to getting an accurate answer.<\/div>\n
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Against a high-octane Vols offense, this unit will be tested early and often. Will they be able to put pressure on Joey Aguilar and create turnovers? This will be something we, and others, will be watching closely in Knoxville. As mentioned above, we expect an inspired play, but will this last the entirety of the game?<\/div>\n
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Photo Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Has the Game Passed Petrino?<\/h3>\n
We are all familiar with Petrino as a coach. He is one who is known for his offensive play calls and creating mismatches across the field. In this season, against lesser competition, Petrino has done this. In the last three games,\u00a0the second half has been a nightmare for Hogs fans<\/a>, as they have scored 13 total points in these games. With this trend, it begs the question: has the game passed Petrino? We are asking this from a serious perspective as the once-feared coach has been outwitted recently.<\/div>\n
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With the Vols’ defense ranked top in conference in a multitude of categories, this answer may become clearer this week. With another dismal performance from this offense, combined with a loss, this is not on the defense anymore. After all, if you can not score points, you will not win. It is time for Petrino to answer a hard question: has the game passed you by?<\/div>\n

Is Yurachek Really Hiring the Next Coach?<\/h3>\n
Although we have a sense of this answer based on the press releases and comments, we must ask. Will we really see Hunter Yurachek hire the next coach? We ask this because there has been very little active support for anyone in the position. Especially from a financial standpoint. After all, Yurachek just told the Little Rock Touchdown Club less than a month ago that the \u201cProgram was not built to win a national championship\u201d. This insane comment to fans and media was followed up with the firing of Sam Pittman.<\/div>\n
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Then, in the\u00a0press conference announcing Petrino<\/a> as the interim, Yurachcek had a small case of amnesia. He said that the \u201cgoal\u201d was to \u201cwin championships\u201d when describing why the change was made. Does this make any sense? Why do the fans want this man to make this decision? Many have made statements such as \u201cNo booster wanted to support Pittman\u201d, but this is not the booster. The literal job of the AD is to build finances and support. With that, we need to see someone step in and make this decision other than Yurachek. After all, the future of the program is riding on it.<\/div>\n

Can You Put Lipstick On a Pig and Make It Look Good?<\/h3>\n
We are realists and understand that this is an ugly situation in Fayetteville right now. With this, could you add some lipstick to the pig and make it look good? Well, this is not as simple as some bright cardinal red color. In fact, there needs to be an entire makeover. As Arkansas enters Knoxville, there will be many asking questions about whether there is reason for hope.<\/div>\n
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We believe there is a slight glimmer to hold on to, for now. With an absolute shellacking from Tennessee, this lipstick is quickly wiped off and thrown away. Many are asking {begging} for Arkansas to win some games to justify Petrino as a full-time coach. The defense has to show a pulse the remainder of the way to complement, or attempt to, this struggling offensive unit.<\/div>\n
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In closing, there are many questions being asked around Arkansas football. These handful are just some that we need answers to. Will we receive these answers coming out of Knoxville? We may have some, or possibly none, but the image of the program will be seen. The drive and pride will be seen, and with this, answers will also be seen. These questions needing answers in Knoxville for Arkansas are deep-rooted.<\/div>\n
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Main Photo: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Arkansas makes the road trip to Knoxville to battle the Vols, there are many questions surrounding this program. We at Last Word are inquisitive about a handful of questions that will need to be answered in the game. Some are off the field, yet these answers will be more difficult to fully answer in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4207,"featured_media":81083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35588,17,3],"tags":[437,33968,35293,111],"class_list":["post-81074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-arkansas-razorbacks","category-news","category-sec","tag-bobby-petrino","tag-hunter-yurachek","tag-joey-aguilar","tag-sam-pittman"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81074"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81084,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81074\/revisions\/81084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}