Vols Prepare For Arkansas With Interim Coach in Bobby Petrino

(govols.com) – Fresh off its first open week of the year, No. 12/12 Tennessee has turned its full attention to a dangerous Arkansas team that’ll visit Neyland Stadium this Saturday afternoon (4:15 p.m. ET on SEC Network).

This weekend’s contest against the Razorbacks will be the only home game for the Vols in the month of October and will serve as Champions Weekend as Tennessee welcomes back a number of individual and team champions across all sports.

“Champions Weekend, got some of our former teams getting recognized. Expect to have a really big group of former players back here,” head coach Josh Heupel said during his Monday press conference. “Looking forward to seeing them. And then, a chance for us to recognize and honor Coach (Doug) Dickey, as well. It will be great to have him back and his family.

“For us, I think this is the only home game that we have here this month inside of our stadium, so hopefully our fans are rested, juiced and ready to go. Need them to be a big part of this game as we get ready to play Saturday afternoon.”

Among a number of challenges that Arkansas will present is the changes to its coaching staff following the recent departure of head coach Sam Pittman. Interim head coach Bobby Petrino made a handful of changes to the defensive staff, which has made preparation for this weekend’s game all the more unique.

“You’re looking at everybody that they have, the changes that they’ve made, the history of what they’ve done. It’s everybody on our staff taking a look at it,” Heupel said.

“This is a unique situation, so you prepare for what’s on the tape, and you prepare for what potential unknowns could be as well. But you also understand that it is not going to be exact replicas of anything that you’ve seen on tape, as well, in this situation. Communication from staff and players will be really critical in this one.”