ATHENS, Ga. — Tennessee had a chance to take the lead early in the second half of its 31-17 loss at Georgia but its drive stalled out with the Vols facing fourth-and-six at the Georgia 36-yard line.
It was a doable third down and Max Gilbert had already made a 52-yard field goal in the game. But Heupel opted for the conservative call and punted as Georgia took over at its own 13-yard line.
Georgia’s ensuing 12-play, 87-yard touchdown drive proved to be one of the most defining of the game and made Heupel’s decision to punt a poor one in hindsight. On that drive, a pair of critical calls went against Tennessee.
First came when Georgia was facing second-and-24. Carson Beck hit Nitro Tuggle on a slant that picked up nearly 15 yards. When Tuggle’s helmet popped off, an official threw the flag and called facemask which moved the sticks. Tennessee corner Rickey Gibson never grabbed Tuggle’s facemask.
Later on that drive, Georgia subbed late before a second-and-seven play and Tennessee slowly substituted to try and draw a delay of game. The officials eventually moved to let Beck snap the ball as Jaxson Moi hustled off the field. Beck’s pass to the end zone was incomplete, setting up a third-and-seven.
But the officials reviewed the play and deemed Moi was still on the field and called too many men on the field. Three plays later, Beck scrambled for the go-ahead touchdown on third down.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel expressed his frustration with the calls, calling them “pretty big” penalties.
When a reporter asked Heupel about Gibson seemingly not grabbing his facemask, Heupel turned his microphone around and asked the reporter to repeat his question while indicating it wasn’t a facemask. Tennessee’s fourth-year coach said he had no comment about what the officials explanation was.
Heupel then proceeded to ask the reporter if he wanted to ask about the 12-men on the field call. The reporter did and Heupel did not provide a comment. It was a very bizarre interaction with Heupel turning his microphone around. Read the full transcription of the interaction below. Watch the video below too to see Heupel’s tone and mannerism.
More From RTI: Everything Tennessee HC Josh Heupel Said After Vols Fell At Georgia
Reporter: Josh, a follow-up on the facemask (penalty). When we watched the replay, like I mentioned, it looked like.
Heupel: Yeah, what did it look like?
Reporter: It looked like the back of the helmet popped off. We didn’t see a hand on the facemask. What was the explanation?
Heupel: Can you repeat that?
Reporter: It looked like his helmet popped up, but there wasn’t a hand on the facemask. Did they give you an explanation of why it was called?
Heupel: Next question.
Heupel: You wanna ask about the 12 men on the field?
Reporter: I would, yeah.
Heupel: What did it look like? Okay.
