Tennessee football earned its first SEC win of the 2023 season Saturday night as the Vols knocked off South Carolina 41-20 at Neyland Stadium.
The Vols’ dominated the line of scrimmage— running for 238 yards while sacking Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler four times.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel discussed making Rattler uncomfortable, the rowdy crowd inside Neyland Stadium and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said after the victory.
More From RTI: Four Quick Takeaways From Tennessee’s Win Over South Carolina
Opening statement
“Great evening inside of that stadium. Our fans were what I expected and were an impact on the football game. I said it earlier in the week that they needed to be a part of this football game and they were today. Thank you to them from Vol Walk to just warmups. The stadium 75 percent full with 40 minutes to go (before kickoff).
“And then all night long, man, they were relentless in their effort and energy too. So thanks to them. We’re gonna need them, this football team, this journey here in ’23. We need them the rest of the way when we’re at home to be just that same way. And so they need to enjoy the bye week, too, and then get ready to go for the following one.
“Awesome to have our ’98 championship team back, from coaches to the players. I think there were close to 90 some of them that were back last night. And for today’s game, they’re a huge part of our tradition, our history. They’re the standard of where we gotta get to. But they’re a huge help in recruiting here. A lot of them still live here in our footprint and it’s been fun to get to know those guys and awesome to be able to celebrate 25 years of that championship team.
“Love the effort from our guys during the course of the football game. We started fast. We didn’t play perfect, but they reset. They answered the bell each round, each unit, and continued to compete hard. Hate what happened to Bru. We’ll have a more of an update tomorrow or on Monday I’m sure, but everybody saw it. (It) was (a) lower body injury that didn’t look good. So there’s nobody better than him. Great teammate, great leader, tough as they come. Works extremely hard to be his best and make sure his teammates do that too. So I hate it for him.”
On if this Tennessee team is learning how to win the line of scrimmage
“I said that this was gonna be a line-of-scrimmage game early in the week. Challenged them all week long, had to own it on both sides. Felt like we controlled the line of scrimmage for most of the night. Relentless effort, energy, technique, fundamentals. Our D-line did a great job against the run. Harassed the quarterback all night long. He was thrown out of a well, he was on the move. They did an unbelievable job. We did a good job matching out on the perimeter too defensively, and then offensively for a lot of the evening, super efficient, create some big explosive plays. Good enough in our protections to push the ball down the football field too. So all in all, I’m pretty pleased with it until we pick apart the tape, I’m sure.”
On Tennessee scoring touchdowns to start the first half and second half, answering in big moments throughout the game
“Starting fast, starting the third quarter fast, you know, didn’t finish it the way that we wanted to. But at the end of the football game, being able to control it, go punch another one in, to kick the field goal the possession before that. The line of scrimmage, we gotta continue to get better. And as we go deeper into this league, this schedule, it’s gonna be important for us to win the line of scrimmage every week. And that’s where this football team’s gotta win. That’s where it starts. So proud of the effort and what they did offensively more efficiency more consistently throughout the course of the evening (more) than a few weeks ago.”
On Tennessee’s changes along the offensive line
“We’re just banged up up front right now a little bit. Some unique things transpired during the course of the week and had a couple guys that weren’t available. Coop being back this week was absolutely critical for us to be our best. Ollie (Lane) did a good job sliding out to the left (guard), Gerald back at right (tackle). We were efficient. We weren’t perfect, but hit double teams, running backs did a good job running hard. We pushed the piles, plays that (were two yards) went for four. Those are big hidden yardages in the way that the game’s played at the end of a set of downs. And Coop, his experience, his athleticism, his ability to communicate at a really high level, all positives for us and go play our best.”
On Squirrel White’s productive night
“Yeah, a young player, relatively speaking. Just continues to get better. Just extremely confident and comfortable out there. He operates extremely efficiently. Joe (Milton) has great confidence in him, made big-time competitive play on the deep ball early in the first quarter. That gets us going. Just an unbelievable job all night. One-on-ones. I told our skill players, I said earlier it was (a) line-of-scrimmage (game), right? Got to own it. And then out on the perimeter, it’s gonna be a one-on-one game you gotta go win. We gotta be efficient. Throwing it, catching it and winning in those matchups. And Squirrel, obviously, nine targets, nine catches, that’s hell of a night by him.”
On which receivers will have to step up with Bru McCoy sidelines
“Not any different than the guys you’ve seen lately. Kaleb Webb is gonna have to play at a high level. Chas Nimrod. Dont’e (Thornton) wasn’t available tonight. We should be able to get him back, get him going too. Nathan Leacock. So we got a bunch of guys that gotta fill the roles and that’s the nature of this game. It inevitably happens. Next man up. They gotta be ready for their opportunity. They gotta go take advantage of it.”
On James Pearce Jr’s productivity
“I didn’t see his stats. I just, every time I looked up, I felt like he was affecting the way their quarterback was playing in the pocket and, just relentless, playing with length, fundamentally continuing to get better, has grown as a person outside of the game, which has allowed him to quickly accelerate inside of the game. Playing really well right now. His best football is still a long ways out in front of him too, which is a real compliment to him because he’s playing really well right now.”
On the importance of Kamal Hadden’s pick six
“Well, offensively there for a series or two. I can’t remember the exact flow of the game at that point, but I think there were a couple series where we struggle. Defensively, they gotta go back on the field. They do a great job getting them in long yard situations. The pick six was a huge momentum swing. Obviously we gave them the football back on the 50-yard line, which is not playing smart football. We gotta be a lot better there. But again, defensively our front goes and changes the way the game’s played and gets us off the field there. Huge play by Kamal, but that happens because of what’s been going on up front too. Quarterback is uncomfortable and ready to get the ball out of his hands.”
On how Tennessee’s secondary matched up South Carolina’s route trees
“You saw a combination of match man, principal coverages, but you also saw some zone. They did a really good job of being in their spots. You know, a year ago we got hurt on some high-low schemes. I thought we did a really good job of playing it from high-to-low. We matched out their, mesh concepts extremely well. I thought end zone and man, we were able to pass things off in a really good way.”
On when he knew Squirrel White was tough enough and physical enough to play in the SEC
“First day on the practice field where we’re wearing pads, in helmet and shoulder pads, there’s a lot of physical drills that we do out on the perimeter. Lot destruction, tackling, perimeters drill, whatever he was when he got here on campus, it was all in the fight, right from day one. He’s tough, he’s physical, he’s gonna stick his nose on people, he’s gonna play great fundamentals. He’s been that way from the jump.”
On Wesley Walker and if Tennessee’s secondary took this game personally after struggles last season
“Yeah, I think everybody took it personally, you know what I mean? As an entire program, our fans did too. But certainly on the defensive side of the ball too. Wesley (Walker) close to a pick on one had multiple bat downs. Our ability to get off the football field early in the football game was critical.”
On what was going so well for Tennessee’s third down defense
“We stopped them in a short yardage situations. Stopped them on fourth downs. I think there were two-of-five on fourth downs. Handled the boot(leg) in critical moments early in the football game, tackled it out in space. We got off the field in third-and-medium, third-and-long. I thought the quarterback was uncomfortable all night long, had a hard time working through his entire progression. He did break contain a few times and make a few plays. But all in all, I just thought the line of scrimmage and what we did there, you know, changes the way the quarterback plays and, you know, the way we handled the run game for the majority of the night too, all that pushed in the third-and-long and there a few extra long situations there too.”
On the upcoming open date
“We’re a football team that needs to get healthy. I usually get the question, is it coming at the right time? For us right now, I would say it’s coming at the right time. We need to get healthy and get some young guys to grow. We gotta grow as a football team. Good teams continue to get better throughout the course of the season. And we gotta play smarter football and our margins just aren’t big enough to, to not do that. So we’re in control of that. Starts with coaches, starts with me, starts with our assistant coaches and then our players gotta soak it up to.”
On what he saw from Tennessee’s young linebacker, freshman Jeremiah Telander
“All in all, I thought we handled all of their boot(leg) game, all of their split flow of the zone game, the size of the one run right at the beginning of the third quarter. I thought we gapped out, we tackled well. Majority of the night we push the pile backwards. Without looking at the tape I would assume that all of those guys played with great fundamentals, great eye discipline, we’re taking the right steps and had their eyes on the keys.”
On Hendon Hooker being at the game after getting injured against USC last season
“One of the best to play here. Guy that cares about his teammates still. Joe to everybody that’s in that locker room. I think it speaks to his love of this university and this program that on a bye-week or a short week I should say, you know what I mean? He’s got a couple days off that this is where he chooses to come. It was awesome to have him back and and be a part of this win tonight.”
On what it says about his team with how they handled emotional moment
“That’s a tough moment when you know that one of your brothers just had a tough injury and they’re getting carted off like that. Emotionally for those guys being able to eventually get in control of your emotions on the back end of it, be able to reset. You know, Bru said he wanted those guys to go, go play their you know what off and win the ball game too. So, I relayed that message, but it shows some maturity from those guys that no matter what’s going on being able to reset and refocus and go compete hard.”
On if last year’s loss makes this one sweeter
“I wouldn’t say that. This is good football team. This was the next step in our journey. It was important for us to go play really good football tonight. This doesn’t do anything with last year, it just doesn’t. But for our football team in this program tonight was the next step in this ‘23 journey. I thought guys prepared the right way, practiced hard, and came out and played good football. Not perfect, but good football.”
