Tennessee Coach Josh Heupel Talks South Carolina
In week three, Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffalos talked about how Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell made things 'personal' with his hat and sunglasses comment about Coach Prime. While not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, ask any Volunteer fan or Gamecock fan about this weekend's matchup, and I think you'll get universal agreement: it's personal.
These fanbases, at least right now, can't stand one another, and both teams have gotten the better of one other once since their respective coach took over their program. Shane Beamer and Josh Heupel will square off for the third time in their head coaching career on Saturday, with Heupel being the one looking for revenge on this occasion. The Vols head coach was asked point blank at his Monday press conference if this game meant more to him, and he gave the quintessential, coach-speak type response to the question.
"It's a new week every week. Last year, they were more physical than us. They competed harder than we did on that night. We didn't handle the environment the right way. Those are lessons that have to continue to move forward with us as a program, but last year has nothing to do with this week."
Heupel, however, went much more in-depth when asked about Spencer Rattler's ability to impact the game, imploring that Tennessee's defense will have to keep him contained, something they struggled to do last year.
"He's a really good player. He's played at a high level; he's played a lot of football. He's playing extremely well right now, [and] he was dynamic in that football game, but he has that in his arsenal," Heupel said. "We gotta do a really good job of getting him in third-and-long, [because] last year we didn't get off the field on third-and-long - Some of that was him standing in there and making some special plays. We gotta do a great job of bottling him up and applying pressure at the same time."
One of the benefits of South Carolina's challenging start to the season has been the experience this team has gained in hostile environments. This week's game will be no different, as Volunteer fans will be out in full force, especially with the emphasis Heupel is putting on how the crowd can impact the game.
"We need to make it extremely difficult for them to communicate - Our fans need to be a huge part of this football game."
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