A lot of Tennessee fans need to hear some truth they don’t want to hear after the Vols’ ugly 24-17 win over Arkansas
The Tennessee Vols left Fayetteville with a hard-fought 24-17 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Tennessee Vols did something on Saturday they haven’t done in 25 years — they got a win against the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville.
Tennessee’s 24-17 win over Arkansas marked the latest streak that’s been ended under head coach Josh Heupel (other notable streaks that ended under Heupel include the first win against Alabama in 16 years and the first win against Florida in the Swamp since 2003).
The Vols now have a four-game road winning streak for the first time since 2006.
It was an ugly win against a not-very-good Arkansas team, and the Vols clearly have a lot of areas where they need to improve, but it was still a win.
And with the parity in college football right now, any conference win is a good win — especially when it comes on the road.
That’s why I’m absolutely flabbergasted that there are quite a few Vols fans on social media who are complaining about the win. They’re down on Heupel and they’re laying out doomsday scenarios for the rest of the season.
I mean, at one point during the game on Saturday I saw fans suggesting that Heupel should be fired.
What are we doing??? Heupel is far from perfect, and he has areas where he can improve (don’t we all?), but what he’s done at Tennessee since 2021 is pretty incredible considering the abyss the program was in from 2008 to 2020 (minus a few fun moments in 2015 and 2016).
The fans who are miserable over beating Arkansas need to take a look around college football. No one is safe in this sport right now.
No. 1 Texas lost to an unranked Oklahoma team on Saturday. LSU lost to Kentucky. Florida was blown out at home by a South Carolina team whose head coach is on the hot seat. Oregon lost to UCLA. Indiana barely survived against unranked Nebraska on the road.
College football in 2026 isn’t anything like college football 10 or 20 years ago. The parity in the sport is real. Any SEC team can beat any SEC team.
You know how they say that any NFL team can win on any given Sunday?
Well, the same logic now applies to the SEC on Saturdays.
Tennessee lost these types of games for years before Heupel arrived. Why in the world would a fan choose to be miserable after a win after what the program went through for years?
I’m not saying the Vols don’t need to improve — obviously they do.
But that’s what they’re going to be trying to do this week in Knoxville before playing Alabama next Saturday.
If you want to be a miserable fan, that’s your prerogative. But I just don’t see the point. The players are fighting hard and playing with effort, the coaches care deeply, and the last thing any of them need is a group of fans complaining about a win on one of the 12 Saturdays of regular season college football that we get to enjoy.
