Tennessee Football Head Coach Josh Heupel Speaks Following Win Over Syracuse

Tennessee football leave week 1 as a winner as the Vols defeated Syracuse 45 to 26.

Head coach Josh Heupel met with the media following the game, and here are some of the highlights of what he had to say.

Josh Heupel's opening statements

"First of all, I just want to thank everybody here at AFLAC. (A) tremendous opportunity for us to come down here and play, and everybody associated with the Peach Bowl. Gary Stoken and his entire staff do a great job all year long, too. And (I) appreciate everybody. Great venue. Appreciate our fans coming out the way that they did. (At) the end of the day, it was great to get a win today. Good star. A lot of positives, a lot of things that we're going to have to clean up as well, but proud of the way that our guys came out and competed for the most part. Some of the game one issues that can show up, just substitution, those types of things. I though in all three phases handled that pretty well," Heupel said.

Reflection on Joey Aguilar's debut

"He is who he was on the practice field," Heupel quickly noted.

"(He's) just very even keel and composed. I thought that he handled the operation extremely well in the football game, ya know, just very steady. That's a testament to who he is. That's who he is as a person, and he certainly handled that way today too. So, it's a really good start for him. A guy that's come in and, you know, three and a half months, whatever it might be, and you know, to be able to learn, grasp, and play the way he did today. It's a testament to his work."

Third down conversions

"Yeah, I thought the third down conversions early in the football game were a big part of, you know, how the game was played out in the second half, and you know, from him (Joey Aguilar) being decisive, decision making and accurate with the throw, to our guys executing up front and, on the perimeter. You know first ball game, that was a real positive early in the football game," Heupel explained.

Young freshmen answering the call

"Yeah, young guys that didn't have time to be young. Certainly, in this one, you're playing a really good opponent. I thought biggest testament to them is, you know, nobody had any hesitation of playing those guys. You look at guys on Special teams, offense, defense that, uh, you know, got their first action maybe as a true freshman or first time starting. I thought they handled themselves extremely well throughout the course of the football game and made adjustments throughout as well, Heupel said.

Check out the full presser below. Video provided by VolQuest at On3.