Everything Josh Heupel Said to Preview New Mexico State Matchup

Coming off a loss, Tennessee football head coach Josh Heupel speaks about controlling the controllables ahead of a home matchup with New Mexico State

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel during warm-ups before a NCAA football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Oklahoma Sooners at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on November 1, 2025. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Tennessee Volunteers return to Neyland Stadium for a home out-of-conference game this week against New Mexico State following a week of reflection with no game following the loss to Oklahoma.

Head coach Josh Heupel spoke to the media on Monday afternoon to talk about what was learned from the bye week and previews the matchup against the Aggies this weekend.

This is homecoming week for the University of Tennessee and the Group of Five opponent should allow for Heupel and the Vols to get back on track ahead of a pair of crucial conference games against Florida and Vanderbilt to close the regular season.

Josh Heupel Opening Statement

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel during warm-ups for a NCAA football game against Kentucky at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky on Oct. 25, 2025. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

I hope everyone enjoyed their bye weekend and I am excited to get an opportunity to come back and play a game inside of our stadium with our fans. It is also a Salute to Service game for us and I want to take an opportunity from everybody inside Tennessee football to thank all the men and women that have served our country, the sacrifices that they have made and the sacrifices their families have made that allow us to live the life that we do and play the game that we do, so we appreciate them very much. We will be wearing the Smokey Grey uniforms this weekend as well and I am looking forward to going and playing and competing."

Heupel Hopes to See Growth Coming Out of Bye Week

Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar (6) looks to throw during a college football game between Tennessee and Oklahoma in Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on Nov. 1, 2025. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"I want to see growth and that is a lot of different things and a lot of different areas, but this is our next opportunity to play hard and play smart for 60 minutes, play with discipline: that is alignment, assignment, eyes, keys, technique, and go execute. Defensively, win on the line of scrimmage and get off the field. Do a great job on the back end matching things out. Offensively, run the line of scrimmage and play with execution out on the perimeter. On special teams, go win."

Heupel Has Focus on This Week Only

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel during warm-ups before a NCAA football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Oklahoma Sooners at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on November 1, 2025. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"This is our next opportunity to play. There are a lot of areas that we need to get better in and got good work in the middle part of last week and this is our next opportunity. Whatever happens after, that is after, you can not control any of that, so same thing we talk about consistently in our program in all phases of the year: control (what you can control) and win right now."

Click HERE to watch and listen to everything that Tennessee football head coach Josh Heupel had to say when previewing the home matchup this week against New Mexico State.

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