Tennessee football never trailed but never pulled away as it outlasted Kentucky 33-27 at Kroger Field in Lexington. The Vols improve to 6-2 (3-2 SEC) with their third straight win over the Wildcats.
Heupel discussed the strong play of his running backs, an elite four-minute drive to put the game away and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said after the victory.
More From RTI: Four Quick Takeaways On Tennessee’s Narrow Win Over Kentucky
Opening Statement
“Proud of the fight, the competitive nature of the football team. They played for four quarters. Didn’t play perfect. A lot of things we can do better, but they played hard. We were physical and we talked about having to win the fourth quarter. Felt like we won the fourth quarter tonight. That was a good job finishing the football game in all three phases. Really nice job at end by the offense. So proud of our football team answering back. Told them we gotta continue to get better too. A lot left on the back third of the season and there’s a lot of things we can control that we gotta be better at.
On Tennessee’s running backs rushing for 228 yards
Dynamic in the second half in particular, down the stretch. Did a good job making people miss and reading the blocks and running extremely hard, running through tackles. Jaylen Wright did too, got nicked up in the first half of it. Jabari ran well. All in all just big time effort from those guys. And obviously D-Samp was really special tonight. Big guys up front were really pretty solid with all the things that they were showing. They handled it.”
On electing to kick the field goal with seven seconds left in the first half
“Man, the seven seconds, actually thought it was gonna be nine. You guys probably saw a replay of it, but when it was at seven, we still had time outs. We’re far enough back. Just didn’t trust all of it playing out. You can take a shot for sure. But in the situation of it felt like we needed to get the three and that’s why.”
On if that’s something he can ask officials to review
“Yeah. That’s what they came back with.”
On Tennessee’s offense carrying more of the load after the defense won the game against Texas A&M two weeks ago
“Whoever is on the field at the end has got to go finish it. Win, lose, draw, it’s always three phases together. They’re always competing, that’s what’s what special teams do. We’ve got a good culture inside of it.
On what he liked about Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton in the win
“Made big time throws inside of the pocket. Made them as he escaped and moved. When they dropped eight and everything was covered out, it was pressure at times. Great to see a scramble and, make the throw down football field, completions that were big. There were multiple of those that were big the way the game played out at the end. I’m proud of his continued growth and the way that he competed tonight. Run game, he was an important part as well, so good effort from him. The whole offense, continue to grow, get better. Proud of their efforts.”
On what Kentucky was able to do to slow down Tennessee’s pass rush
(Silence)
“Okay, next question.”
On keeping up the confidence of Dont’e Thornton after dealing with injuries and having a slow start to his Tennessee career
“This game is a microcosm of life. There’s ups, there’s downs. Battle it, you know what I mean? He’s had, not a tough go of it, but a tough go of it. I say that, he’s got banged up in the early part of spring, back end of training camp. He just didn’t get super comfortable in what we’re doing. And I love the fact that he’s got great energy every single day, gives energy to his teammates. He’s hyper focused on what he wants to do to improve. He competes hard every single day. So the challenge, when it’s not going well, just mentally continue to invest. He’s done that and we expect him to play well down the stretch.”
On how much winning close games depends on ability to adjust
“I think you play the same game 10 times, the game’s gonna unfold differently when you play it 10 times. So there’s just so many variables in this game. The flow of the game but in this game, you’re gonna have guys go down, you gotta be able to adjust. Your personnel’s gotta step up. Sometimes you’re calling things a certain way based on your personnel. There’s other times where you, it’s what it’s, they got to go perform and execute in it. Tonight, in all three phases of the game we had guys that stepped up and played extremely well. Charles did a great job tonight. That was a huge part in the football game. I haven’t mentioned him. That’s not right. He did an unbelievable job. Long one, (he) got the ricochet. He was living right.”
On Campbell, him being from Tennessee
“Growing up in the state of Tennessee wanted play with the power T on his helmet. To have an opportunity for him and his family, to represent their family. To represent the university means a lot to him. For him to perform the way he has up until this point— it’s been a lot of fun for him, but for us too. You know, he’s submerse himself in the fabric of his football team extremely quickly. He’s a Vol and a great teammate inside of this locker room.”
On Chas Nimrod having his first career touchdown
“Awesome for a guy that is young in his journey, continues to improve, works hard every single day and we obviously believe (he) has an opportunity to be a dynamic playmaker and beats man, press coverage and goes and makes a play. Really nice throw by Joe. He’s a young player that, continue to expect him to accelerate in his growth on the back end. Really proud of him for that play but with what he’s done here particularly since Bru’s gone out.”
On WR coach Kelsey Pope being fired up after the game
“Huge for him. Huge for the wide outs. Huge for us offensively and this football team. This journey throughout the course of the season has been guys have been banged up that nobody knew were banged up and played through it. Guys that got banged up that were no longer playing. There’s been a lot of variables at that position this year and more so than we’ve ever had since we’ve been here. They continue to fight. They continue to compete. Proud of the way they continue to step up. Big for Coach Pope but big for the guys in that room too.”
On shutting down Kentucky RB Ray Davis
“We were playing a mixture of coverage, single high and two high. So the box wasn’t loaded all night long. We did a great job of block destruction early. We penetrated, made them bubble, didn’t let them get started. Then we wrapped up and tackled pretty well early in the football game. That’s why, I feel like, they went so heavy in the play action pass there, I don’t know, beginning or late first quarter, but did a really good job up front early.”
On the four-minute drive to ice the game
“Well, one, we blocked it extremely well. We got hats on hats for the most part and when it got to the third level, running backs made plays. They ran through people and made them miss and went forward. Huge, huge for that group and for this game to go finish the game with the ball. That’s what you want to do offensively when you get into four minute mode. We did a great job in the box. Oline, tight end, running backs and quarterbacks were a part of that too, controlling the edge defender. Really proud of the opportunity we got to finish the game with it.”
On what he learned about his team by how they responded on the road
“Tonight wasn’t perfect either. Short yardage that we didn’t pick up and our pass defense at times could have been better. We had some penalties, but at the end of the day, this group does continue to fight and compete. And they do believe, and they play for one another, not just the guy that’s next to him on their unit, but they truly play for the other side of the football. Their belief and confidence and that doesn’t just happen. That’s built through your work ethic. Building a brotherhood, building a culture. I’m really proud of that. There’s a lot of things that we got to continue to improve upon as football team and that includes me and our staff and everybody. But I’ll go with these guys anywhere. I love competing with these guys. Truly do. They prepare and they practice hard and do the things we ask them to. Want them to have an even more heightened sense of urgency to get where we’re capable of as fast as we can. But, I’ll go anywhere with these guys.”
