University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Move Forward With Plenty On The Line
September 28, 2015 | Football
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The sun did rise in Tennessee on Sunday, and did so again on Monday, dawning a new week for the Volunteers with Arkansas coming to Knoxville Saturday evening.
The sting from the weekend past was still very much in the room as the Vols talked about the next opponent on the schedule. But it was present as a source of motivation to move forward, rather than a subject to dwell on for head coach Butch Jones and his players.
"Coming off of a loss like that, we understand what we need to do moving forward," quarterback Joshua Dobbs said. "We have a snap-and-clear mentality and we're moving forward. SEC play is relentless. Arkansas isn't worried about how we played last week. They are going to come in and try to win the game. We have to be ready to go."
The challenge posed by Arkansas' potent running attack and experienced defense has the attention of everyone in orange.
"Nobody's going to feel sorry for us," Jones said. "We're playing a very, very talented Arkansas football team. [They're] very physical, very big and have the ability to control the clock. I think they have one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He's a three-year starter. He's managing their offense. Bret [Bielema] has done a phenomenal job of building that program."
Like Tennessee, Arkansas enters off a close loss, the Razorbacks' coming in overtime to Texas A&M in Dallas. The loss was the third in a row for a team that expected to be in the middle of the fight for the SEC West title.
Those expectations and the talent behind them make Arkansas a stiff challenge as coaches are surely delivering the same message to the Razorbacks that Jones and his staff are to the Volunteers.
It is a message that senior offensive lineman Kyler Kerbyson says that he and his teammates are taking to heart.
"We have a whole season left," Kerbyson said. "We have eight games still. There's no reason to let Florida beat you twice because you're still looking back. We want to move forward and stay positive."
Fellow senior Brian Randolph sees the close games as evidence that the Volunteers are ready to take the next step forward. It is taking that next step the motivates him even more with the results he has seen.
"We're right there," Randolph said. "Everyone can see it, everyone knows it. We're better, but we all want to win, we're all competitors out there."
And it has him fired up to take the field again on Saturday.
"In the SEC, every game is a big game," Randolph said. "You can't be looking down the road, we have to focus on Arkansas. We can't look back, Arkansas has to be our main focus."
Jones has turned that focus on the fourth quarter, a period that has bitten the Volunteers in each of its losses this season.
"Football rewards those individuals who persevere," he said. "The only thing I can say is keep working. We have a fourth quarter period in practice we'll continue to make it a point of emphasis."
