Everything Josh Heupel Said After Tennessee's Win Against Arkansas

The Tennessee Vols have found a way to defeat the Arkansas Razorbacks away from Neyland Stadium for the first time since 2001. Though it was certainly not the cleanest game for the Vols, they will take the win and turn to preparing for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

This is everything head coach Josh Heupel said after Tennessee’s Victory.

Josh Heupel’s Opening Statement

“Proud of our team. It's been a long time since this program's won here. Talked about it during the week, a four quarter ball game. And, there's a lot of things we got to do better in beginning, middle parts of the game, but I love how we finish, you know, the last, I don't know, quarter and change, win the football game, outscore them, I think 17-3. Guys were resilient, kept competing. Defense was lights out in the first half. Offensively Had some drives, missed a field goal, some things we don't execute. Just little things. We got to play smarter, not change the situation, some of the penalties offensively. Special teams were solid all day. But third quarter, both sides of the ball don't start as fast as we need to. However, at the end of it, competitive composure, keep competing, and find a way to win. Proud of the group for that. And, you can see in this league, every Saturday is a new season. Find a way to be the best team on the field and keep improving and keep on moving. “

Josh Heupel on George MacIntyre’s Performance

“I don't know that he was getting better as the game went on. I do think he finished really strong, but there were some really good things early in the football game, too. This game comes down to the finest of details. You know, right before half, the fumble, he's just got to clear the back. You know that that's something that's day one, but I thought he did a really good job in some adverse situations. Just playing the next play and pulling the trigger and it was it was a winning performance by him ultimately.”

Josh Heupel on the 94 Yard Drive to Take the Lead

“Competitive composure just going and playing the next play. Defense, you know, gets a stop. You know, there's a chess match, you know what I mean? It's going back and forth and able to hit some runs, hit a couple throws, and ultimately get in the end zone. Great effort by Deshawn obviously. Collectively as a group, all 11 did their job on that drive and that's what it takes. When it's not going good, it's not typically major things that aren't going good. It's all 11 settled in doing their job at a normal high level of execution and when it was going good today that's what we did when it wasn't just a little bit off”

Josh Heupel on the Chase Down Tackle at the End of the First Half

“Huge play changes the game it can change your season it's actually something that through our experience we've talked about shown to our players that's our offensive guys are going to be involved in tackling at some point during the course of the offseason and it's a big time play just continuing to compete get a guy down and it's a three-point play that or a seven-point play right that ends up negating all of it and it's a straight wash walking in at halftime”

Josh Heupel on His Team Coming Back to Win the Game

“Well, I think they showed that they are resilient, and you know, no matter what the circumstances, they're going to continue to play and go play the next play. That's why it happens today. So again, proud of our group handling it that way.”

Josh Heupel on if There are Similarities in This Team and Two Years Ago

“I mean you look at holistically the style of play. Yeah, there's some similarities, but football it's about constant growth and you know this is you know this is the result of last week's work. The challenge for us as a staff when we get back in the office tomorrow, the challenge for our players on Monday is all right, now how do we push forward and continue to grow”

Josh Heupel on The Difference in Being Able to Win This Game versus Losing Two Years Ago.

“I think some of it is the competitive makeup, competitive composure, going and playing the next play. You know, defense didn't start as fast as they wanted to in the third quarter. Offensively certainly didn't either, but the look in their eyes was we're going to go play the next play and it's a credit to our players and our staff to have that type of mindset.”

Josh Heupel on What He Told the Defense After Giving Up Back to Back Touchdowns

“As they're coming off there’s a lot of clock whether you're up or down it's 0 to 0 for 60 minutes play each play independently and go continue to compete that's what they did”

Josh Heupel on if The Upcoming Game Against Alabama Impacted This Performance

“We got to take it. We got to own it. Period. This league, keep looking at the scores. Every week's its own season. So, the margins are small. You're playing good players. You're playing good coaches. Margins, you got to be on the right side of it.”

Josh Heupel on the Big Play to DaSaahn Brame

“Play action a little eye candy to hold some of the interior. They're playing their post safety extremely deep in our 12 personnel stuff today and just playing off of one guy's eyes and DaSaahn does a great job wrapping it on the back end. Good throw by George. Really good run after the catch by DaSaahn.”

Josh Heupel on Faizon Brandon’s Health

“Yeah. Just with what he was dealing with he really didn't rep during the course of the week. George knew on Monday that he was going to start this week. We'll continue to play it by ear as we keep going. The strength of one room can never be one guy. I know most of you guys are tired of me saying that but that's the truth of it and we'll keep growing and going.”

Josh Heupel on How Brandon Has Handled the Situation

“Faizon’s dealing with an injury. George handled it well when Faizon got named the starter. Faizon's handled it well dealing with his shoulder. Continuing to stay invested, you know at practice in the meeting room helping that room out and is here for emergency use only this week.”

Josh Heupel on Xavier Gilliam

“Smart tough relentless competitor, loves ball he's the same dude every day in the meeting room on the practice field that parlays itself into playing consistently on game day two and he's been playing extremely Well, holistically as is the entire D line. Those guys are doing a really good job for the most part controlling the line of scrimmage, affecting the quarterback and playing well off of each other within the scope of the scheme. Proud of that group.”

Josh Heupel on the Big 3rd and Seven Play That Ultimately Led to a Field Goal.

“At that point in the game, it was critical. We're able to get points out of it. So, there's some things on third down that that we didn't execute, that's all 11. Then there's some things that we did at a really high level, too, that were able to keep us on the field and allow a couple of those drives to get points. And that's a point of emphasis. We got to continue to grow in our third downs.”

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