Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman thinks there's plenty to take away from the way that the Oklahoma Sooners defended the Tennessee Vols' offense in Week 4. 

In Tennessee's 25-15 win against Oklahoma in Norman last month, the Vols eschewed their typical up-tempo aggressive approach in favor of a ground attack that was used to chew up clock. 

The result was fewer points/yards for the Vols' offense while protecting a double-digit lead. 

Part of the reason why Tennessee went with that approach is because Oklahoma's defense had a great game plan against UT's offense. The Vols struggled to find room to run the ball at times. And the deep shots weren't readily available early in the game (though the Vols did connect on a couple of deep throws). So instead of putting Tennessee's offense in a position where they might turn the ball over, UT head coach Josh Heupel went with a conservative approach in the second half. 

On Monday, ahead of Tennessee's matchup against Arkansas in Week 6, Pittman was asked by a reporter what he took away from the Vols scoring only 25 points against the Sooners. 

Pittman was quick to praise Oklahoma's game plan. 

"I thought it was a brilliant game plan (by Oklahoma)," said Pittman. "But as I said, once Tennessee got ahead there, they went primarily to running the football. They were ahead, they felt like their defense was playing well. I think Oklahoma was struggling a little bit offensively and part of that, a lot of that, was because Tennessee is really good on defense. But yes, there’s certainly things that we looked at that Coach (Brent) Venables and his staff did there that are intriguing.”

Part of the reason why Venables and the Sooners were able to defend Tennessee's offense effectively was because Oklahoma had some unique insight into Heupel's offense. Former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who spent two seasons as Venables' offensive coordinator in Norman (2022 to 2023), previously worked under Heupel at UCF. Lebby, who is now the head coach at Mississippi State, and Heupel run similar offenses, so Venables has plenty of experience going against that style of offense in practice. Venables undoubtedly knows a few of Heupel's offensive "secrets" and it showed in the way that OU defended Tennessee (especially in the way the Sooners defended the run with a light box). 

Arkansas could have some similar insight going into this week's game against Tennessee. 

Kendal Briles, who is the son of former Baylor head coach Art Briles (the godfather of the style of offense that Heupel and Lebby run), served as Pittman's offensive coordinator for three seasons at Arkansas (2020 to 2022). That means Pittman has plenty of experience seeing his team defend this style of offense in practice. And like Venables, I would assume that Pittman has picked up on a few of the secrets of the offense (though it's worth noting that Briles, Lebby, and Heupel aren't carbon copies of each other — they each have put their own touch on their version of the Briles offense). 

I don't think that's enough to suggest that this game will be tilted in the Razorbacks' favor, but it could be a tighter game than Tennessee fans are expecting — especially in the first half. 

Ultimately, though, I think Tennessee's superior talent and depth will allow the Vols to leave Fayetteville with a comfortable win. But this certainly isn't a game that Tennessee can take lightly. 

AP Top 25 voter has bizarre ranking for Tennessee Vols after bye week

Not sure what that guy is thinking