Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello believes he knows what the X-factor is this weekend for UT football against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Vitello, who spent four seasons as an assistant baseball coach at Arkansas, joined WNML’s SportsTalk on Thursday to discuss a variety of topics, including Tennessee’s upcoming matchup against the Razorbacks.

Tony Vitello points out the X-factor for the Vols against the Razorbacks

Vitello thinks Tennessee’s 19-14 loss to Arkansas last season in Fayetteville will be a source of motivation for the Vols on Saturday when they take on the Razorbacks at Neyland Stadium.

The popular Tennessee baseball coach also suggested that the recent coaching change at Arkansas (interim head coach Bobby Petrino is running the show after head coach Sam Pittman was recently fired) could be “dangerous” for the Volunteers.

“I think it’s ultra dangerous when there is a coaching change, regardless of who it is,” said Vitello. “It’s not so much about the X’s and O’s as it is the fresh start mentally, kind of a clean slate. It just helps free guys up a little bit to play their best. And who knows, maybe there is something new that’s put in that makes it difficult for our team to prepare for — although [Josh] Heupel always is pretty intense when it comes to that stuff.

“But I think mindset is huge. And it helps, on the other hand, when you’re talking about mindset, knowing that we lost that game last year. It didn’t end in very strong fashion for us. It was frustrating. You could argue we were the better team overall, but we just didn’t get it done. All those things linger, and they linger for a long, long time. And it adds to the mindset and motivation that, I think, could be an X factor. So, you know, I mentioned both sides of the coin there. I think the fact we lost that game there last year the way we did ultimately favors us more than any other circumstances favor them.”

There’s no doubt that Tennessee is using last year’s loss to Arkansas as motivation for this weekend.

Vols true freshman tight end Jack Van Dorselaer wasn’t even a member of last year’s Tennessee team that lost in Fayetteville, but he still believes this weekend’s game is “a little bit more personal”.

“I think every game is personal,” said Van Dorselaer earlier this week. “But this one’s a little bit more personal, you know, after them beating us last season. I think just using that as fuel for this week — applying that to how we practice and how we attack film — so that when we got out there, we can handle business.”

Tennessee and Arkansas are set to kick off at 4:15 PM ET on Saturday in Knoxville.

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