What Heup had to say after the game

[StillStanding]

This was a total team loss. No one looked motivated or excited. A lot like South Carolina last year with even less offense.

This whole game was the first half of the Florida game and 2nd half of the Alabama game.

 

[ftsandersvol]

Second time in two years in a game that really mattered where we looked like the moment was too big for us. That has got to change.

 

[Cartervol]

And I simply don't get that. There are a number of these kids who are hoping to get to the NFL, but they go out there and just flop about like a fish on the deck and make themselves look like fools. If I was an NFL scout watching this , I can't think of one player that I would take before the 6'th round.

I think its on the coach to not get embarrassed on the road. It's one thing to get beat, but that should be unacceptable to even the casual fan. Maybe a QB that isn't afraid of his own shadow or a defense that played mad might help..

 

[Johnnyreb#VFL]

I think it’s clear we don’t have the 1’s and 2’s quality depth yet. When you have a Hooker and Hyatt, etc in college it raises the bar significantly. When you don’t just like in NFL it becomes a week to week chess match/scheme and basic gameplan execution. If the gameplan is off because of matchups and schemes, you get what we got tonight.

We had to have been down to 3rd sting dbs tonight and possibly wrs. Our depth is def iffy

 

[Toucan Sam]

Why can't this team win on the road except in Lexington?

 

[Dadof2Vols]

I don’t really have a problem with #3. JH rightly doesn’t throw players under the bus. Talent is increasing but I am worrying more that JH is missing Golesh greatly.

He is missing a top tier QB on offense and quality defensive secondary.

A quality QB and we are in this game.

Joe is just not the one.

The biggest issue I have is Nico isn’t ready to play or CJH’s biggest flaw is too loyal to his QB but maybe Nico was hurt early which has truly prevented him from being ready.

 

[KeyVol14]

Second time in two years in a game that really mattered where we looked like the moment was too big for us. That has got to change.

The team showed no effort today or last year. I don't understand it

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

There’s not a single Jajuan Jennings or Al Wilson type on the field that demands everyone raise their level of play.

 

[JMSqb11]

Hate seeing the negativity on CJH. People forget how damn bad is was with Dooley, Jones, Pruitt. He is a great coach, we are done on CB's. Better than anything the rest of the bunch did.

The obvious good thing about the negativity is that Heupel is the first coach since Kiffin who’s shown glimpses and games that he can compete with anyone. The downside is that it will take time and losses like today are concerning.

People are louder with Heupel than say Butch or Pruitt because Heupel has shown how high level he can coach. Butch and Pruitt were just morons who lucked into any success they experienced here.

 

[volfeeva]

I wished we could put an emphasis on building a strong defense. It almost seems like CJH has ownership of the offense and the defense just kinda comes along for the ride. go get some players in the portal , or better coaches. We will never have a winning program until we focus on getting tough on defense.

 

[AdoptedVOL]

It sure didn't make me feel better to kick a FG in the waning seconds so we could lose 36-10 instead of 36-7. That is rinky-dink. It was almost poetic justice to have missed it.

Going for 3 is the wrong mentality and in this case from the top. Missing that FG was karma.

you line up and go for 6 because you want to battle one more play.

Before you say "oh but injury", I'll take the teaching moment of fighting to get into that EZ over sticking my head in the shell.

 

[Drewbydoo]

CJH is always reluctant to throw anyone under the bus, so I'm wondering if "Quarterback's trusting that part of the zone is emptied out" meant that a receiver was supposed to run a route than occupied that safety?

Everyone wants to believe a blowout loss is due to one main reason. The worse the blowout, the greater the number of things that were going wrong.

Yup and not much went well today other than punting. I'm watching UGA right now and I'm shaking my head at just how crazy good they are. Granted, they are playing at home which is a big help and honestly, it's hard to win on the road. Crowd noise impacts a lot of things and I believe the refs are biased towards the home team.

So todays loss wouldn't have unfolded if we were at home.

 

[BigALWiLson]

Opening Statement
“Give credit to Missouri. They played well. Man, really disappointed in the performance of our football team. Didn’t like the way we finished the ball game. We didn’t play smart enough, good enough early in the football game to win this one. And, you know, line of scrimmage, there was a stark difference. Said it early in the week that it would be a pivotal part of the football game. They were able to run the football. We weren’t. Offensively we didn’t have the efficiency that you need to go and score points. So, disappointing.”

On what Missouri was able to do to make RB Cody Schrader so productive against Tennessee
“They created seams. He was able to make us miss, ran through some things too. At times, just gap integrity. They reached us and we didn’t have anybody in the front side gap. So combination of that. You look at Brady Cook, he made a bunch of plays with his feet too. Extended a bunch of drives on third down. And the difference in performances, the line of scrimmage.”

On if he was surprised with how the game unfolded with everything Tennessee still had to play for
“Yeah. Disappointed in the performance offensively. Their structure was a little bit different than what we anticipated, personnel on the defense side. I didn’t think we responded, reacted well in the first drive. Reacted to it and adjusted a little bit in the first half. I’m just really disappointed. We weren’t able to continue drives. Offensively you look at the first half, outside of the drive in the beginning of the second (quarter), there’s huge penalties that put you in first-and-20 or second-and-20. And multiple turnovers over on that side of the 50-yard line, too. Tough to overcome. So really disappointing.”

On what Tennessee could have done more in the second half to take the game back
“Yeah. Offensively just didn’t communicate early in the first drive (in the second half). But the second drive, have an opportunity and I think we have a penalty on that drive. Turnover on the next one. And the game got away. End of the day, we gotta play smart, smart football. And you gotta play extremely physical while you’re doing that. We did not do that on the offensive side of the football tonight.”

On the frustration of Tennessee’s defense being unable to get off the field on third down
“We didn’t want to be in straight man-free against their wide receiver core. So there was some two-high shell there as well. Quarterback gets out of the pocket, sometimes we lost, contain, sometimes he’s stepping up into the pocket and we’re not able to tackle out in space. So combination of all those things change the way the game was played earlier.”

On what made Missouri RB Cody Schrader hard to defend out of the backfield
“He’s athletic, understands the game at a really high level. Understands leverage. He’s a part of their past game too, and (we) didn’t do a very good job.”

On Tennessee being penalized nine times
“Huge. Huge, huge in the way the game was played. I already said it on offense, first-and-20, personal foul on the defensive side of football. Self accountability, man, got to play smart.”

On Jackson Ross’ strong performance
“Did a nice job. Our coverage team obviously having the ability to pin them deep and put them inside the one when it’s still a ball game, two possession game right there. He did a nice job. Unit as a whole did a good job.”

On what happened on the Joe Milton III fumble
“Run, pass option. At the end of the day, both sides of it have to be in position to take care of the ball, clear the back.”

On if he had anything that led him to thinking a bad performance was coming
“No. We didn’t play well. Thought they continued to fight in the second half. End of the game. I didn’t like because I didn’t feel like we competed the way that we needed to finish it out, but did not— thought they practiced well.”

On them blowing the play dead to review the Joe Milton III fumble
“No. Replay can buzz down. A couple times that’s actually happened this year.”

On Milton’s interception
“I believe it was two high shell. Safety brakes on the ball. Quarterback’s trusting that that part of the zone is emptied out.”

Heupel and the whole offense lost this game along with the defense. Team loss m9ve on to next week

 

[guido4198]

This was a total team loss. No one looked motivated or excited. A lot like South Carolina last year with even less offense.

Yup…. This was the team that played in Gainesville this season. No FIRE, almost listless. Despite being close at the half it was already obvious that Missouri was going to win this one.

 

[CAVPUT]

This was a total team loss. No one looked motivated or excited. A lot like South Carolina last year with even less offense.

Yep. I mentioned that we were giving off SCjr 2022 vibes about midway through the first. The energy wasn't there. We also were slipping back into some bad tackling habits. Entire team looked sluggish and almost like they just weren't interested in playing today. I really thought we were starting to turn a corner in that regard. Losing is one thing, but not competing...well...I thought those games were finally behind us. Clearly that's not the case. Our "culture" is still light years behind the likes of bama and uga.

 

[Gannon Goodson]

This whole game was the first half of the Florida game and 2nd half of the Alabama game.

This is one of those quotes where I say to myself, "Damn, why didn't I think of that."

 

[Cartervol]

The loser mentality still permeates that locker room.

Definitely something to that.

 

[CAVPUT]

My personal observations:
1. We are a middle of the pack SEC team. Hooker, Hyatt and others spoiled us last year, and this year we were exposed for what we are...middling.
2. It will take us 2 to three more years of good recruiting and portal work to get where we ought to be--if Heupel can do it.
3. Heupel should just write his halftime and post game comments before the season and read them every game. For all his positive attributes, these are definitely not a part of those. They are canned, insincere, and deliberately obfuscating. He shows disrespect to his own fanbase by saying almost exactly the same thing for each halftime interview.

Just gotta be more efficient. As we all know, efficiency is key. Without efficiency, you're just inefficient and not playing winning football which is clearly efficient football.

 

[JoeMiltonsAgent]

Wouldn’t surprise me if they did give him more $. The more Heupel makes the more fans should expect. We don’t need a Jimbo.

Heupel got an extension for 9 mil per season through 2029.

Think we can table any discussions on a head coaching salary adjustment short term.

 

[mudhen]

I think its on the coach to not get embarrassed on the road. It's one thing to get beat, but that should be unacceptable to even the casual fan. Maybe a QB that isn't afraid of his own shadow or a defense that played mad might help..

Yeah, I hear you. I have held off from joining the bench Milton choir, but at this point let's throw Nico in the fire and see what he's got. Milton should have been a tight end.

 

[Illinoisvolfan2]

That was the deal..Didn't look like they wanted to even be there..

Like they looked every game under Pruitt

 

[Lars]

Everybody knows that Tennessee won, by a lot. Stop the steal!

 

[Spawn]

Great coaches don’t have teams that unprepared, unmotivated or undisciplined.

See it all the time. I'm not throwing the baby out with the bath water because of one game. That's how we got into this need y for 20 years by changing coaches every 3 years. Idiotic

 

[CAVPUT]

I think it’s clear we don’t have the 1’s and 2’s quality depth yet. When you have a Hooker and Hyatt, etc in college it raises the bar significantly. When you don’t just like in NFL it becomes a week to week chess match/scheme and basic gameplan execution. If the gameplan is off because of matchups and schemes, you get what we got tonight.

I'm not sure we have a single starter....on either side of the ball....that starts for bama much less uga.

 

[cgrish]

I don’t really have a problem with #3. JH rightly doesn’t throw players under the bus. Talent is increasing but I am worrying more that JH is missing Golesh greatly.

Imo offensive play calling is hurting our offense more than anything.