Everything Josh Heupel Said After Alabama Defeated Tennessee

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— No. 6 Alabama football defeated No. 11 Tennessee on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, by a final score of 37-20. The Volunteers (5-2, 2-2 SEC) were seeking their first win at Bryant-Denny Stadium since 2003.

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel spoke to media members in a postgame press conference. Heupel is now 2-3 against the Crimson Tide in his head coaching career. For Alabama (6-1, 4-0 SEC) Tennessee was the last of its four consecutive scheduled ranked opponents, and the Crimson Tide beat them all.

A full transcript and video from Heupel's press conference is below.

Opening Statement:

"Disappointing result. Ultimately, offensively, just self-inflicted wounds in the first half killed a bunch of our drives. Positive is the way they came out and competed early in the second half. The defense gets a stop, offense goes to score. Turnover we don't take advantage of. Self-inflicted wounds on that possession again. But again, you're playing a good team, the details are gonna matter. We lost in the details tonight. Ultimately, that's my responsibility, our responsibility, players and coaches together."

On the final play of the first half and response after halftime:

"I said it was gonna be a 12-round fight in this one. They're a good football team. So, don't matter how it starts. Gotta continue to fight. Our guys did that. Just, again, ultimately not on the right side of it in the details. End of the first half, nine seconds, no timeouts. You're left with a decision. Do you want two opportunities or one? So, got a little play-action, and he [Joey Aguilar] leaves the ball inside a little bit, and goes back for six. Big play in the football game for sure. But again, how you come out and fight, defense gets a stop. Offense scores. After the turnover, we've gotta do something with that. We've got a chance to change that game."

On clock management and not kicking a field goal late in the game:

"Just in a possession, or a position, where you're close to the end zone. Ultimately, we went with that."

On whether play-action on the final play of the first half was predictable:

"They [Alabama] understand the situation as well. Got a 1-2 read and ultimately, we've gotta be on the right side of it. It's there, it's not, gotta be accurate with the ball. If it's not, throw it away, we've got one more play. That's not me putting it on Joey, either. It's all of us."

On whether that was the original play before Alabama called a timeout:

"We made that choice after the timeout."

On why the defense is struggling across the middle of the field:

"Ultimatelty, they made plays in the middle of the field. We didn't match things out, or whatever it might be. I'll be able to see more when I watch the tape."

On Tennessee's offensive pass interference penalty in the first half:

"You're talking about Chris's [Brazzell II] catch? It was a yard past the line. That's what they said."

On DeSean Bishop and the running game:

"Ultimately, some of it was RPO game where Joey's throwing it out there on some of the runs, but got two more runs that I thought our guys did a good job. [Bishop] did a great job making some plays too. Making some guys miss."

On DL Carson Gentle:

"Yeah, that's somebody that we've been working here during training camp, and he's got a natural feel for it. Has experience doing some of that in high school as well."