Nick Saban was right. Or at least that's what you should be saying today if you're a fan of the Ole Miss Rebels or the Miami Hurricanes after last Saturday.
And it's something that the Tennessee Volunteers should be mindful of when they take on the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The former Alabama head coach made headlines years ago when he talked about praise from the media and fans as "rat poison" for his team. That reading too much good about themselves can cause players to lose their focus and intensity in the middle portion of the season, which leads to poor results on the field.
Major undefeated favorites underwhelmed big time last weekend
Well, that happened on Saturday with both top ten Ole Miss and Miami around 17-point favorites each at home against unranked two-loss teams in Kentucky and Virginia Tech. The Rebels and Hurricanes had demolished the competition coming in, leading many to proclaim them among college football's best early in this 2024 season.
Then, the games were played. The Rebels fell 20-17 and the Canes survived 38-34 after trailing for most of the second half and winning only after a Hail Mary on the final play was reversed from a catch to incomplete. Saban said on College Gameday on Saturday how he felt the Canes were victims of reading their own headlines .
Vols open as 13.5-point favorites at Arkansas
The oddsmakers have given Arkansas plenty of motivation going into the game on Saturday night, putting the Hogs as almost a two-touchdown underdog at home against the Vols.
That's honestly quite the number, given what the Hogs have done this season. Arkansas' losses have come at Oklahoma State in double overtime in a game where the Hogs were in control for much of it, and then last weekend against a ranked Texas A&M team by 4 points. They've been in every game this season.
The Vols haven't been awesome going out to Fayetteville either in their recent history. Tennessee's last win in the Natural State was in 2001, when they put the Hogs away late to win 13-3. Beyond that game, the last time they won by more than one score on the road against Arkansas was in 1995, when they prevailed 49-31 in Fayetteville.
However, what's in the past is in the past, and the Vols have to have a focused mindset each week in order to navigate their schedule without dropping any games they shouldn't. Florida is up next weekend, and in other years, Arkansas could be a game that falls right into that trap game category.
But that doesn't appear to be the case with Josh Heupel, at least this season. The Vols have come out and taken the fight to their opponents early, especially on the defensive side of the ball. If they continue to treat each week as an opportunity to go 1-0, if they block out everything else that they're hearing about how good they are, if they realize a 13.5-point spread is just some arbitrary number put out by a guy sitting at a desk in Las Vegas......then perhaps they'll be ready to continue their impressive performance on the field on Saturday night at 7:30 pm at Razorback Stadium.
They just can't take a bite into the hype. That's deadly.
Related: Nico Iamaleava gives major kudos on social media to Tennessee Vols' defense on Friday
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