There’s a company line at the Anderson Training Center this week. Tennessee players and coaches draw no extra motivation from South Carolina’s 63-38 thrashing of the Vols last November in Columbia.
South Carolina scored touchdowns on nine of the 10 possessions that they didn’t run the clock out on and ended Tennessee’s College Football Playoff aspirations.
But it’s a new year, new week and new day. Tennessee football players wouldn’t be caught dead saying last season’s loss stings even a little.
“I’m not even thinking about last week, just Wednesday practice and the task at hand,” running back Jabari Small said Tuesday.
Sophomore receiver Squirrel White says he keeps a “next game, next opponent” and senior defensive end Tyler Baron focuses “on every week the same” way.
What about Bryson Eason? Does he draw any extra motivation from last season’s loss?
“No sir. It doesn’t mean anything extra.”
It’s a mindset Tennessee coach Josh Heupel has preached to his team and I’d wager Tennessee SIDs emphasized the importance of sharing that measured response to Volunteer players this week.
In its macro form, it’s absolutely the way Tennessee should be going about things. The Vols aren’t going to beat South Carolina solely off of fire or the sour taste last season’s loss left in their mouths. Heupel’s point— which he’s shared multiple times this season— that one season, game, drive or play doesn’t affect the next is accurate.
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After the Florida loss, Heupel emphasized that “momentum is real if you let it be real” and the same point applies here. Last season’s loss can affect Tennessee this week if they let it and focusing on it too much has, almost exclusively, negative ramifications.
“It has nothing to do with what’s going to happen in this one,” Heupel said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference Wednesday. “Good or bad. To me, the team that wins this game is the team that plays the smartest, which means you’ve got to be in control of your emotions. It also speaks to your preparation and what you need to do during the course of the week to be able to play your best and not be out there strictly thinking.”
Tennessee’s company line and mindset makes sense. But that doesn’t change how demoralizing last season’s loss was. The Vols were 22.5-point favorites and lost in blowout fashion. Hendon Hooker’s brilliant Tennessee career ended in the worst way imaginable: a torn ACL and a loss.
While Heupel’s second season was already a resounding success you only have so many opportunities to make the semifinals in any sport. Tennessee making the College Football Playoff wasn’t a given with a win over South Carolina but the loss ended any hope.
Heupel knows the kind of pain that gives fans, players, staffers and likely himself too.
“For our fanbase, if they want to use last year as motivation, I got no problems with that,” Heupel said. “That’s the great thing about being a fan. I expect our stadium to be rocking like it always is. It’s going to be an electric atmosphere, so, if they want to use it, that’s awesome. For us, it’s about our preparation, how we practice and make sure that we’re in a great competitive spirit, mindset as we go take that field on Saturday night.”
Tennessee’s third-year head coach isn’t going to use last year’s loss for motivation into the lead up to the game. But that doesn’t mean he or his players won’t use it as motivation as game time imminently approaches.
Kickoff between South Carolina and Tennessee is at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday night. Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers and Cole Cubelic are on the call for the SEC Network.
