Josh Heupel usually coaches aggressively. His offense is aggressive by its very nature and his in-game decision making typically reflects that. But that wasn’t the case as No. 6 Tennessee defeated No. 15 Oklahoma 25-15 on Saturday night in Norman.
Heupel punted it on fourth-and-short from plus territory early in the game. He kicked a short field goal instead of going for the knockout blow on fourth-and-one in the fourth quarter.
The Vols ran the ball on 52 of 73 plays including on third downs needing seven and 14 yards in the second half. So why did Heupel call such a conservative game?
“Each game unfolds differently but in the first half you could feel the way that we were playing on the defensive side of the football, controlling the line of scrimmage, making it really tough on the quarterback, playing tight coverage on the back end, getting off the field on third downs,” Heupel said postgame.
Tennessee’s defense absolutely dominated Oklahoma throughout the game. The Vols’ defensive line controlled the game, helped force three turnovers and never allowed Oklahoma to get in any sort of rhythm.
Another key reason for the cautious play calling was both starting left tackle Lance Heard and starting right tackle John Campbell Jr being our for the majority of the game. With two backup offensive tackles in the game against a stout pass rush, Heupel wanted to limit offensive mistakes.
That became even more prevalent after Oklahoma forced a pair of Nico Iamaleava fumbles in the pocket in first half.
“As the game went into the second half it changed the way that we played and what type of situations we were going to put Nico in with our personnel changes up front,” Heupel said. “I mean all those things play into it together and at the end of the day, if you want to play really high level football, you got to have a high level defense. And our guys are playing really well.”
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Put simply, Heupel made a calculated gamble in this game. After Tennessee jumped out to a 19-3 halftime lead, he didn’t believe that Oklahoma’s offense was good enough to catch up unless the Vols handed them points.
So Heupel decided to call a conservative game and limit where his offense could make mistakes. Were there times where the fourth-year head coach was too conservative? Perhaps. But his gamble absolutely paid off. He played field position and trusted that his defense wouldn’t let Oklahoma climb back in the game.
They didn’t. Despite two fourth quarter touchdowns, the Sooners were never able to make it a one-score game.
“Field position changes the way the game’s played for everybody and what type of position you’re trying to put everybody on your football team,” Heupel said. “So it changes how the game is played and tonight the game kind of formed its own identity mid second quarter, certainly as a third quarter got started.”
Heupel coaching a game this way and Tennessee being able to win a game on the road that way speaks to his growth as a head coach and the Vols’ growth as a program. The more ways you can win games the better equipped you are to make a deep run.
Tennessee’s defense has the Vols looking like not only a team that can make the College Football Playoff but one that can do damage when they get there. The key is for them to get healthy on the offensive line so they can take more chances and be more efficient in the passing game.
“I look forward to hopefully having both of those guys (Heard and Campbell) back here by the time we get back on the field,” Heupel said.
Tennessee now has a week off to get healthy before heading on the road again for a SEC matchup at Arkansas.
