GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tennessee dropped its SEC opener at Florida 29-16 Saturday night as the Vols’ losing streak at Florida reached 10 games.
Tennessee fell behind big after a disastrous second quarter and never recovered despite a better second half effort.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel discussed the disastrous quarter, his team’s poor third down defense and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said after the loss.
Opening statement:
“Extremely disappointing start to a football game in the first half, not very good in any sort of way. Offense had the one drive, and defense got the one stop. Other than that, not the way you want to start. I do appreciate the competitiveness of the guys coming out, competing and playing in the second half. Still didn’t play as clean as we need to, as well as we need to in some ways, but they did fight. We got to get a lot better. Hats off, give credit to Florida. They did a good job. But we have to get a lot better.”
On not getting off the field on 3rd down:
“Yeah, didn’t get off the field. Had some 3rd and long situations, applied some pressure to the quarterback, we didn’t match out on some things… we got to be better, got to get off the field.”
On the last timeout:
“Timing of when it was. Chance to try and push one into the end zone. Obviously at the end of it, by the time of when it happened, you know you weren’t going to be able to have a full sequence of plays to try and get back into the end zone.”
On the offensive line and Joe’s performance:
“I’ll have to go back and watch it. First half, at the end of the day, nobody was doing what they needed to do. That can be run game, it can be protection, it can be QB play, it can be WR play, that’s why it looked the way it did after the first drive. It starts with me and out coaching staff, too. We’re in it together.”
On the pre-snap penalties:
“A myriad of things that happened in those sequences. End of the day, we have to operate. Fully capable of it. Part of the disappointment.”
On if there were issues communicating with the sideline:
“In the first half, we didn’t get it going. We were behind the chains the entire time. So, you’re not going to see the tempo at that point.”
On how capable he thinks they are of playing much better than they did:
“They are capable of it, absolutely. But we got to be better.”
On if there’s some sense of confidence they have to re-gain to play better:
“We got to go back to work and continue to grow.”
On why there was no Gerald Mincey or Doneiko Slaughter:
“Doneiko wasn’t available, and Mincey, we just made a decision to go with JJ (Crawford) tonight.”
On how he would assess the tackling:
“Not very good in the first half. Huge part of the problem. You can look at tackling and not getting off the field on third down, defensively, and offensively, you can look at pre-snap penalties and lack of efficiency, all of it.”
More From RTI: Four Takeaways From Tennessee’s Loss At Florida
On Joe Milton’s growth at Tennessee:
“He did some good things down the stretch. Early in the football game, we as an entire unit weren’t playing the way we needed to to move the football. Joe’s done some really good things. He, like the rest of them, I was proud of the way that they competed in the second half. Still not clean enough. Still not as efficient as we need to be but they came out and competed.”
On Cooper Mays not playing:
“Just wasn’t available tonight at the end of it (warmups). Didn’t feel like he was in a position to play his best football.”
On if Tennessee’s players weren’t resetting the way they needed to in the second quarter:
“I don’t know about resetting, just handling all of it. Efficiency of it. We have to put them in better situations. They have to go execute. We have to move the football. That’s in the ground game. It’s protections, it’s winning one-on-ones. It’s all of it.”
On how not having Cooper affected the offensive line:
“End of the day, you line up with the guys that you’ve got. There’s no asterisk at the end of a loss with who was available and who was not. We’re good enough to play better than we did tonight.”
On what Tennessee needs to do to play better on the road:
“Have to give yourself a chance early in the football game. Got to play efficiently. Got to line up and tackle on the other side. Got to play. Three phases man. Early in the football game, (we) did not play well enough after the first drive on both sides of the football.”
On if defenses are allowed to make substitutions after a ball is re-spotted by an official:
“You’re thinking about which one you’re talking about there?
Reporter: “The fourth down”
Heupel: “I guess the official kicked the ball and moved the ball and respotted it and allowed them to sub.”
On if there’s a rule on that, if they’re allowed to do that:
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an official kick the ball. We have to go check the rule book.”
On the end sequence/fight:
“That sequence right there, we’re trying to get the ball back. We’re trying to take a shot to the end zone. I don’t know if we’re going to have time for an onside and maybe get a shot back. But you’re trying to finish and compete the right way. He (Florida QB Graham Mertz) is dancing around. Do you want the targeting? Obviously, not. But he’s dancing around so you have to go tackle the guy too. Do we want to be composed in that situation and all situations? Absolutely.”
On what changed offensively after the first drive
“Eleven guys operating and doing their job at a really high level. Pre snap penalties killed us. Busted protection. Turnover. Momentum is real if you allow it to be real. It’s our job as a competitor to reset and go play the next play. Efficiency in the pass game. All of it. First half, man. You guys saw it. It wasn’t very good football.”
On what allowed Florida to be so successful running the football
“One, when guys were there we didn’t tackle very well, fundamentally. Two, we got out gapped a little bit at times. Just misfit it. Those were the biggest things.”
7 Responses
Good Ole Poppycock! Poppycock Tennessee!!!!!
Defense is the key to winning. No excuse for poor tackling and un sportsman like penalties. Seen a lot of plays on defense such as wrong angles to make tackles, reaching verses proper technique for tackling, lack of speed with our linebacker core. Need player development at defense on linebackers along with our defensive line. Cannot give up 26 unanswered points. In summary defense did not create enough pressure to create turnovers.
Offense stalled on occasion due to self-inflicted penalties. In my opinion we lacked play action and tried over and over to run up the middle, would have loved to see our core of running backs involved in passing game and just not being used as safety valves. This was demonstrated on 4th down when Milton stood and handed football to running back. Everybody, in the stadium knew Florida was coming on a blitz. Wrong play for that situation.
Absolutely an embarrassment of epic proportion, terrible play from Milton, terrible play calling, everyone knows about the quick toss east or west, and how many times are you going to try and run up the gut, how about pass action, sweeps, better idea, NICO. Embarrassing folks, Lotta hype, Florida loss, Alabama loss, Georgia loss, I am giving them next week. 3 maybe 4 wins this year, HYPE.
Haddon should never get back on the field, he’s a complete embarrassment!
Until Nico is given the team we’ll struggle. We now have to work towards 2024, keep our recruiting class, the team needs to know we’ll be back on top.
For the first time, Heupel got out coached. They could not find answers to what Florida was doing.
Coach. You only said what we all saw. My question is: how are you going to fix it?