After the Vols finished off Bowling Green on Thursday night, Josh Heupel met with the media to discuss the performance of his team. Tennessee had its moments on offense, especially in the first quarter, but didn’t have a passing touchdown until Joe Milton connected with Cedric Tillman, late in the 4th quarter.
The Tennessee head coach knew his squad did not move the ball the way they had intended, but looks forward to getting back to work to correct the issues.
“I’m excited about the win. We have a ton of ways that we can and will need to improve out of this football game. Defensively, I thought we played with passion, played with effort and played with energy. We tackled relatively well in space. We did a really good job for most of the night. Offensively, there were times when we were clicking, handling things and played efficiently. At other times, there were simple things that we can control where we didn’t operate as efficiently as we can. We will need to clean those things up as we continue to move deeper into the season.
As Heupel discussed the season-opening win, he reflected on the relationships that have been built over the last seven months and his excitement to getting back to work on Saturday.
“For us, there are seven months of work that goes into getting to this point, building something from scratch. I’m talking about relationships, who we are, what’s the standard, and what does it mean to be a Tennessee Volunteer football player. I’m really proud of getting to this point, playing with passion and energy, being able to celebrate a win. Obviously, when we get back on Saturday, we will have the opportunity to watch video and get a whole lot better from there.”
The Vols will take on Pittsburgh next Saturday at 12 pm ET, looking to start the season 2-0.
