As the crowd rushed the field in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday night, one couldn't help but feel joy for Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman.
A man who had been on every hot-seat list in the country going into the season must have felt exonerated after Arkansas' dramatic upset victory over No. 4 Tennessee.
For an Arkansas team that had coughed up wins against Oklahoma State and Texas A&M, finding enough gas in the tank to shock the mighty Volunteers would've been seen before the game as laughable. The only thing Arkansas fans wanted to see on Saturday night was fight and effort.
They got a heck of a lot more than that.
Arkansas held a 3-0 halftime lead, but two quick scores by Tennessee made it a 14-3 deficit.
Arkansas fans had seen this movie before: Get a lead, fail to make adjustments and watch the other team come roaring back faster than you can call the Hogs.
That wasn't the case on Saturday, however, as Arkansas scored 10 unanswered to cut Tennessee's lead to just a point with 12:08 to play.
With Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green sidelined by injury, the game rested in the hands of backup Malachi Singleton, who had every excuse to fold under pressure.
But as fate would have it, it was Singleton who put a wild band of Razorbacks on his back, running in for the go-ahead score.
NO FEAR pic.twitter.com/gBoJKTMqKy
— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) October 6, 2024
The job wasn't finished, though: Nico Iamaleava and the potent Tennessee offense still had a chance to win the game.
As it had all night, however, Arkansas' defense stood tall, stopping the Volunteers and officially putting Arkansas' win into the record books.
Never gets old pic.twitter.com/WjCdgxuVxK
— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) October 6, 2024
Just 11 months ago, disappointed fans were walking out of Razorback Stadium after a 4-8 season wondering what the future of the program held. Pittman's outlook with the team was rocky and a 3-2 start to 2024 did little to quell the concerns of the fanbase.
This win doesn't just save Pittman's job, but it also has the chance to reinvigorate and resurrect an Arkansas program that has been up a creek without a paddle for over a decade.
Sure, the 2021 season was nice. Yes, Arkansas has had its fair share of upset wins and unforgettable moments. But the innate spark vanished after a particular motorcycle incident in 2012 and had yet to resurface.
That changed on Saturday as a crowd of over 75,000 rushed the field in Fayetteville and prepared to party on Dickson Street like it's 1999.
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