Malachi Singleton came through for the Arkansas Razorbacks, who achieved their biggest win in decades, as they toppled No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday. The win was Arkansas' first against a top five opponent since 1999 when they beat the then-No. 3 Volunteers. The Hogs won 19-14 this time around, reverting a 14-10 deficit in the fourth quarter.
To make matters more impressive, the win came after a last drive orchestrated by backup quarterback Malachi Singleton. Early in the fourth quarter, starting quarterback Taylen Green suffered a blow to his knees by Tennessee's defensive lineman Omar Norman-Lott.
Impressively, Green managed to complete a 30-yard pass on the play. Green initially returned but was ultimately forced off the field, and Singleton took over. Green had 266 yards in the game.
In the Razorbacks' final two drives, Singleton, a redshirt freshman, recorded 31 passing yards and ran for 12, while also scoring the go-ahead rushing touchdown. The play was an 11-yard run with 1:17 left on the clock.
What followed was a nerve-racking last drive by the Volunteers in which Nico Iamaleava connected on a 42-yard pass to Dont'e Thornton Jr. in three and two.
With that, they advanced to Arkansas 25-yard line. However, Arkansas' defense was able to get the stop on fourth-and-five in the next drive, running Iamaleava off the field with zero seconds left on the clock.
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman on Malachi Singleton's performance and Hogs' win
Iamaleava hadn't yet stepped back up when the Razorbacks faithful had already stormed the field in Fayetteville. Visibly moved, Arkansas coach Sam Pittman spoke with ESPN's Holly Rowe after the win.
“Our kids, our coaches did a wonderful job of preparing our guys and making them believe that we can go win tonight,” Pittman said. “These guys are happy; they’re not surprised. If we have the same amount of turnovers, we can play with anybody.
“You get into coaching for moments like what just happened, and it’s to see the kids and the smiles on their face and the hard work that they do, because there’s a lot of teams that can’t get to that feeling. We did tonight.”
Pittman also spoke about Malachi Singleton's last heroic drive:
“The last two drives, he was phenomenal, he ran (the offense) very, very well and scored the touchdown to go ahead. He’s been here a long time and hasn’t gotten to play. To go in there and score the winning touchdown — with the help of 10 other guys — has to be really fulfilling for him.”
This is a big turnaround for a school that has often scratched greatness, routinely taking its big-boy opponents in the SEC to the 11th hour but always lacking the ability to close out a big win like this.
An example of this, although against a non-SEC team, came just in Week 2 for the school when they lost 39-31 against then-No. 16 Oklahoma State in double overtime.
Whatever has happened over the last two decades, today is a good day to be a Hogs fan.
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