Josh Heupel used a bit of his patented dry humor to deflect a question from the media in Knoxville on Monday.
As the Vols are gearing up for a first-round playoff matchup against Ohio State this Saturday night in Ohio Stadium, Heupel was asked if the break after the regular season allowed for postseason wrinkles to be added in or if teams are usually fairly set in stone in what they do.
Heupel, not willing to give up even a crumb of game-week information, chose to deflect with an obvious white lie.
“Yeah. We have nothing new defensively, offensively, or special teams,” Heupel said with a smirk. “We’ll be exactly what we’ve done.”
See the clip by pressing play below:
More from RTI: Tennessee Fans Showing Up in Droves? Josh Heupel Wouldn’t Be Surprised
Heupel spoke to the media in an extended press conference on Monday afternoon in Knoxville that went a little less than 18 minutes. During that time, Heupel answered questions from the media about his team, what the past two weeks have looked like, and his impressions on key aspects of Ohio State before the game on Saturday.
Heupel’s full press conference can be found in the YouTube video above.
The 9-seed Volunteers and 8-seed Buckeyes will clash in a highly-anticipated first-round College Football Playoffs matchup this Saturday night in Ohio Stadium. Tennessee and Ohio State both finished the regular season with a 10-2 record and missed their respective conference championship games.
The Buckeyes finished fourth in the Big 10 behind Oregon, Indiana, and Penn State while Tennessee finished third in the SEC behind only Texas and Georgia.
“You look at Ohio State defensively, they lead almost every category in the country,” Heupel said about the Buckeyes on Monday. “Offensively, they’ve got elite players on that side of the ball. And they tie it together well with special teams. So a huge challenge for us, but one we’re really excited about. Preparation has been good. We’ve got to continue that this week and get ready to go play our best football when we get up to Columbus. So great opportunity. Hope we see a bunch of our fans showing up as well.”
Tennessee and Ohio State will clash in a loser-goes-home playoff game on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider throughout the week for more Tennessee football coverage.
