Everything Josh Heupel Said Following Controversial Ending in Music City Bowl

Tennessee suffered yet another unfortunate missed call, which resulted in a game- winning chip shot field goal for Purdue in the Music City Bowl. Following the game, head coach Josh Heupel addressed the media and below is everything he had to say.

Opening Statement

"Disappointed in the outcome. Disappointed for everybody inside the locker room tonight. They left everything out on the field. Disappointed in the result. But man, the journey has been unbelievable. When we took over the program 11 months ago, where it was and where it is today, two completely different (programs). Proud of these guys. They've come so far. Special thanks to our seniors. Guys that stayed, competed, that bought in, that led. Showed what the spirit of a Volunteer is.

"Our young men that aren't senior, that will be coming back, how much growth they've shown in the course of 11 months, on and off the field. Just so proud of them. Disappointed for them tonight. And disappointed for our fans in the outcome of the game, too. The passion of our fanbase is just unsurpassed anywhere in college football. They are on fire, man. Driving up in the busses tonight was a special scene, as good as I've ever been a part of. Appreciate all of their support tonight, through the bowl season, but really all season long. Appreciate them being on this journey with us."

ON IF HE GOT AN EXPLANATION ON JAYLEN WRIGHT'S FORWARD PROGRESS BEING STOPPED

"Yeah, he said the forward progress had been stopped. I don't know. Sounded like the whistle blew after he extended the football."

ON BEING OUT OF RHYTHM IN THE SECOND QUARTER

"Completely out of the ordinary. I didn't feel like in the second quarter we executed some simple things very well. We had a couple things that had a chance to be explosive plays, we don't execute on them. You have some simple things in third-down situations that we don't execute. Not taking anything away from Purdue, but we weren't very good in that quarter. I thought there were some things that, maybe the layoff, just uncharacteristic from us. From how we were playing later in the football season."

ON RUNNING TWICE TO START THE LAST DRIVE OF THE FOURTH QUARTER

"Just some high coverage from them. The box was light. Probably had a chance to handle it and pick up some yards. We didn't execute the call when we were on the 41-yard line, 42-yard line, whatever it was there, for a couple plays there, to get us in a little better field position."

ON JABARI SMALL BEING HURT LATE IN THE GAME

"Yeah, if you saw him during the course of the night, he was just playing through the course of things really all night long. That was kind of true for a couple of our guys, but certainly for Jabari."

ON THE FRUSTRATION WITH THE LOSS

"It's just disappointing in the outcome. Wasn't disappointed in the preparation. There were a couple of things that I think were just uncharacteristic of us tonight. So disappointed in those things. But I love these guys, man. They fight, they scratch, they claw, they compete. Shoot, it was a great competitive environment in there tonight. Ended up a play short. Get a chance to come back in late January and start the process all over again. If we can continue to buy into that process, we have a chance to do something special next year."

ON PURDUE PASSING FOR OVER 500 YARDS AND FIVE TOUCHDOWNS

"They executed. They made some competitive catches during the course of the ballgame. Thought their tight end, in particular, made some competitive catches, created some explosive plays with a couple of our young guys in there early in the football game. So yes, they executed. Yes, there are some things we need to do, that we're capable of. We all have to learn from it and get better."

ON COACHING THROUGH QUESTIONABLE OFFICIATING

"End of the day, you can't control what yellow hankies come out, when they do and when they don't. Line up and play ball. Are there some things that I probably don't agree with? Yeah. I think everybody knows that. But I think it's important for us, as players and coaches too, to look at things we can control and how we could've been better to change the outcome of the game."

ON CHASE MCGRATH ATTEMPTING A 56-YARD FIELD GOAL AT THE END OF REGULATION

"Yeah, right on the edge there. Coach Ek (special teams coach Mike Ekeler) believed in it. The biggest thing was Chase did too. He had a look in his eye where he wanted the opportunity to go drain it. He gave it a hell of a run. Disappointed we didn't get the ball just a little bit closer for him. That's on me."

ON IF HE'LL FEEL MORE CAUGHT UP GOING INTO 2022, BEING HERE AND ON THE JOB IN JANUARY, AFTER BEING SO FAR BEHIND AFTER BEING HIRED 11 MONTHS AGO

"I don't know if you ever catch up when you're in this spot. But it will be completely different because you're able to put a plan together for your second semester before the second semester starts. So in that way, it will be good for myself, our staff and our players."

ON MAKING SURE THE MESSAGE AFTER THIS GAME IS ABOUT PERSPECTIVE MOVING FORWARD AND NOT EMOTION

"I think you sit back and think about the things that you control. At the end of the day, when you're in a competitive environment, you control the controllables and that's it. There are some things that we handled really well tonight. Some things that we didn't. And that's myself, the coaching staff, all getting better. You walk in the locker room, and you could see it when they walked off the field, it hurts. Shoot, if it ever doesn't, you've got the wrong guys inside the building. They're prideful, they care.

"It showed up in the way they competed tonight. It showed in the growth over the last 11 months. Always come from a place of passion and love. And be careful about the emotion of anything that is going on. Think before you speak. I'm proud of these guys, man, I really am. I'm disappointed tonight. The journey is way more important than the destination, in some respects. Not that we don't want the right destination, either, right? But man, the journey has been awesome with these guys."

ON IF HE SUPPORTS SOME KIND OF MANDATORY SIT OUT PERIOD FOR A PLAYER THAT IS DOWN AND SHOWING INJURY ON THE FIELD

"What's crazy is the officials wanted that tonight. I thought that was pretty comical that they came up and said that to me."

ON THE OFFICIALS SAYING THEY WANTED THAT RULE CHANGE

"Yeah. They think there needs to be a rule changed."

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