Everything Josh Heupel Said Following Georgia Loss
Despite the fast start and close game for much of the first half, Georgia outscored the Vols 17-7 in the second half en route to a 41-17 win in Neyland Stadium. The loss drops Tennessee to 5-5, but with South Alabama and Vanderbilt remaining to close out the season, the Vols still look primed for an above .500 season.
The Vols' head coach, Josh Heupel, addressed the media following Tennessee's Week 11 loss. His full transcript is below.
Opening statement…
“I want to start by just saying it’s been almost a month since we played a home game, and the fans were electric and awesome. Before the game, the Vol Walk was as good of a sight as I’ve ever seen. The energy earlier inside the stadium was fantastic too, we appreciate what they did. Disappointed with the outcome, obviously that’s a really good football team we played in Georgia, they deserve a ton of credit. There are some things that we had to do better to change the way the game was played in the second half and down the stretch.”
On Hendon Hooker’s overthrown passes earlier in the game…
“Yeah, well, he was juiced up and not in the right position or just the pressure they were getting at times. And him getting a little bit rushed inside the pocket, whether the pressure was real, or he was feeling the rush from previous plays. We were just a little bit off. The one interception throw was that and there were a couple other throws that sailed on him.”
On his takeaway from being tied with the No. 1 team in the nation early in the game…
“Love the way our kids prepared, love the way they competed, don’t question any of that. Against a good football team like that, you have to make the plays or make some plays that give you a chance to play it down to the end. You lose the turnover battle 2-0, you can’t do that. The red zone offensively, not good enough. You change those two things, you have a chance to play it down to the end. Our kids know who and what they are, what we’re building here, and we’ll continue to fight.”
On opportunity to play college football’s top two teams and how big the gap is…
“Got to continue to compete, continue to grow. Our kids aren’t scared to walk out on the football field against anybody, neither are our coaches. We are going to continue to recruit, continue to build the right culture inside the building. We will be in more of these games and we will end up on the right side of them too as we grow.”
On how losing JaVonta Payton affected game…
“Obviously, he’s been a huge part of what we’ve done offensively. Ramel (Keyton) steps in, did some really nice things. Doesn’t have the same game experience as JaVonta (Payton), but next man up. It’s the nature of the game.”
On what happened on offense after first quarter…
“They got us with the pressure. We struggled with protection. We got the next drive going, we air-mail a ball and end up throwing a pick. When it’s going good, the guys are doing the ordinary things at a really high level. When it’s not, it’s probably something along those lines. It’s not all 11, it’s just one guy. They’re a good football team, they’re good defensively. They got really good personnel, and they play their scheme extremely well. There are some things that we have to do a better job of in certain situations that we didn’t.”
On fourth downs being teaching moments for Hendon Hooker…
“You want to give guys an opportunity. The one sprint-out, I couldn’t tell where the bodies were all at. How we had an opportunity to give somebody a chance. Give Cedric (Tillman) a chance in the backside.”
On Cedric Tillman…
“Really consistent, I thought him and Velus (Jones Jr.) had really good nights. Cedric had a huge football game if you just look statistically. It’s a great lesson for everybody inside of our program. Those who put the most into it get the most out of it. Really consistent in his approach and his behavior every day inside of our building. That’s why he’s gained confidence and why he’s plays with great confidence.”
On going for fourth downs in third quarter…
“Just the area of the field, and the analytics was close on it. Felt like it was a situation where we go for it. Tough to get the ball down there against those guys too.”
On teams feeling pressure against offensive system…
“End of the day I think for us as a football team we’ve shown that we’ve gotten better through the course of the season. That’s true defensively, that’s true offensively. Tonight wasn’t our best football. I don’t want to take anything away from Georgia, they’re really good in all three phases of the game. When I say that, just our controllables that we can do a little bit better we need to. We’ll look at it on Monday and get ready for the next one.”
On running Hooker as a part of the game plan…
“I felt like you have to run him some. Quite a bit … I don’t know about that. They’re good in the front-seven, made it tough to run the football. We felt like we had a game plan to give us the ability (to win). He had to run the ball more tonight just because of scrambles and some of that. I’m not sure where the rush total was, but I mean he ran around a little bit too.”
On the toughest thing about Georgia’s defense…
“Couple of things just their personality. Their front-seven personnel is really good. They rotate guys in. There’s no drop off from the one to the next guy that’s coming in.”
On if the team will be ready to play the next two weeks…
“No, no doubt in our guys and who they are. They’re disappointed with the outcome tonight. Didn’t happen because we didn’t like their preparation or their focus. They didn’t do the things we needed to, to make it a game down the stretch. It’s a group that I’ll go compete with every Saturday.”
On Ramel Keyton’s strengths in the offense…
“I thought he did a really good job tonight. He did a good job of understanding coverages, (understanding) what he saw in the backend of the snap, got in the right spot with the quarterback. I thought he did a good job in run-aftercatch and perimeter screens. I thought he did a good job of locking down the perimeter too, so I thought he did some really positive things.”
On how the defense played and what they could have done to get off the field more…
“The end of half situation was unique in the way that that unfolded. We got a third down stop, we get a horse collar, and it ends up turning into points for them. Just some of those key plays that I was talking a little bit about the offense, you got to be on the right side of those key plays to change the way the games played. For us defensively, I feel like that was the case too. It’s all of us together. I said this a lot where I’m like, ‘It’s coaches and players. There will never be a divide.’”
On Javonta Payton’s injury and Tiyon Evans’ status…
“Tiyon (Evans), no we did not feel like he was ready to go this one. Javonta (Payton), we’ll see where he’s at. I think he’ll have an opportunity to play next week.”
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