Josh Heupel Expects A Physical Game On Saturday: "A ton of respect for Georgia Tech"

Week two is here and Georgia Tech is hoping that it goes a lot better than week one.

The Yellow Jackets opened the season with a loss to Colorado, but things are not going to get any easier this weekend when the Tennessee Volunteers come to Atlanta. Tennessee crushed Furman in week one, and it was a strong debut for first-year quarterback Faizon Brandon. After the results of this weekend, Tennessee is the more confident team, but Georgia Tech has responded before under Brent Key when they have suffered a surprising defeat.

While everyone is busy counting Georgia Tech out, Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel was nothing of complementary of the Yellow Jackets when talking about them today.

"A ton of respect for Georgia Tech, what they’ve done down there, the program that they’ve built. It’ll be a great environment, physical football game, and we need to get prepared to go play our best"

Heupel also liked what he saw from Alberto Mendoza on Thursday night:

“I thought he played extremely smart the other night. You can see him be able to progress through his reads, one through five, get all the way to the back side of the concept and do it extremely quickly. Was accurate with the football. Athletic enough to extend, make plays as a passer and has the feet to go gain yards afterwards, too. I thought he played extremely well the other night.”

Mendoza was one of the few bright spots for Georgia Tech in that game. He finished the night 17-for-23 for 237 yards and was the highest-graded player on the field for the Yellow Jackets, according to PFF.

Key had similar things to say about Mendoza after Thursday night:

"Yeah, you know, I thought that – I thought he did – and look, next time I get with you guys, after I watch the tape, I'll be able to give you a little better evaluation of it. But I thought he did a really nice job of getting us in and out of the right play, of coming to the line, having presence. you know, sitting in there when you need to sit in there, you know, rolling out when you need to roll out."

Georgia Tech teams under Brent Key are known for their toughness and physicality, but Thursday night was a departure from that. Key has stated that he believes in this team and in their ability to turn things around, but given the talent on the Tennessee roster, that won't be easy.

Heupel expects a phsyical game from a team that is coached by Key and knows that have talent, such as running back Justice Haynes:

“They are a physical football team. They’ve had some turnover on their offensive line, but they still have a ton of experience – I think over 90 starts – on the offensive line. Their running back room’s as deep as anybody in the country. They’re physical. They run downhill. They’ve got great pad level.

“It’ll be a physical football game on Saturday night, and we have to win with physicality.

“Dynamic player. He is extremely physical. Runs at great pad level, but he’s got really good vision. We’ve seen him before as a program (when he played at Alabama). He’s a special talent.”

Georgia Tech is going to be a big underdog in this game and after last Thursday's game, there is not going to be a lot of belief in their ability to pull off this game. Key and his team are being faced with adversity early in the season and how they respond to it could set the tone for the rest of the year.

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