Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel's Remarks After 25-15 Win Over No. 15 Oklahoma

The Vols win in Heupel's homecoming to his alma mater, getting an important road win.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel celebrates after a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Tennessee Volunteers at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tennessee won its first road game over a top-15 team since 2006 with a 25-15 win over No. 15 Oklahoma.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava passed for 194 yards and one touchdown, a 66-yard strike to Dont'e Thornton. Dylan Sampson had 24 carries for 92 yards, while DeSean Bishop had 16 carries for 65 yards. The Sooners made a quarterback change after Jackson Arnold went 7/16 for 56 yards with one interception and two lost fumbles. Micheal Hawkins Jr. fared better with 132 passing yards and one touchdown.

Vols' head coach Josh Heupel spoke to the media after the win.

Opening statement:

“Good win. It’s always hard to come on the road against good football teams. And a great environment tonight. Just thought our defense controlled the line of scrimmage. Played relentless. Really tight coverage early and did a great job getting off the field. Changed the way the game was played. You can tell in the second half, offensively, our game plan changed as far as possession and time. Different than it has probably ever been in my career. Special teams were solid. Max (Gilbert) did a great job putting it through the upright and changing the game just as far as possessions. The kickoff cover, solid. Punt return, gave up a little bit more than we wanted to, but all in all a solid night there."

"Offensively, created some big plays at times. Structure changed from them, which anticipated a little bit. Didn’t know exactly what the structure would look like. Gone against him (Brent Venables) enough in my career, kind of expect the unexpected. But we adjusted, got some things going in the first half and we put some points up and then the second half played pretty tight, just the way it game was unfolding."

"Great win for the football team. Proud of the way that we approached the week, how we prepared, how we practiced and how hard we played in there.”

On missing Lance Heard and having John Campbell miss plays due to injury:

“All in all, I felt the guys that went in and played and replaced those guys, played solid tonight. Between the adjustment of our personnel and structure, and getting everybody in sync, it took us a little bit in the beginning parts. But they performed well. I look forward to hopefully having both of those guys back here by the time we get back on the field.” 

On running eight straight times in the second quarter and punching it in:

“Running the football is our baseline, our bread and butter. It’s how we get started. I thought with the structure changes, and the pressures that they were bringing, it took us a little bit of time to get hat on a hat and create some vertical seams. Our backs getting used to the angles of how everything was unfolding. But that drive was big and a couple of the conversions were big later in the football game too.”

On the passing of his mother:

“She was looking forward to this game. She’s got a lot of friends across the state that know that she was looking forward to it. So it was a unique game to come back and have to be a road game for me and this football team, but a home game for a lot of my family.”

On what the defense does for him as a playcaller:

“Each game unfolds differently but in the first half you could feel the way that we were playing on the defensive side of the football, controlling the line of scrimmage, making it really tough on the quarterback, playing tight coverage on the back end, getting off the field on third downs and as the game went into the second half it changed the way that we played and what type of situations we were going to put Nico in with our personnel changes up front. I mean all those things play into it together and at the end of the day, if you want to play really high-level football, you got to have a high-level defense. Our guys are playing really well. They’re excited about the way they’re playing but they also know that there’s more out there and it’s been fun seeing this group continue to grow.”

On Oklahoma playing two quarterbacks:

“Yeah, man Seth (Litrell) is a really good football coach and does a great job with those guys. He’ll be able to find the right guy for them going forward.”

On Iamaleava giving the game ball to him:

“This game was never about me coming back here. Not for this football team. I say all that, they also understood that this one was a little bit different for me personally too. But that’s not what it was about. But I do appreciate their recognition of that and wanting that for me.”

On his favorite part of his return to Oklahoma:

“Walking off that field with the win felt pretty good.”

On the two big pass plays in the first half:

“As we were figuring out the structure of the fits, two big pass plays that helped create points at the end of the day and some separation on the scoreboard. Two biggest explosive plays and both those guys did a great job getting into the right areas too.”

On how the defense changes his approach:

“Well, it does change because field position changes the way the game’s played for everybody and what type of position you’re trying to put everybody on your football team. So it changes how the game is played and tonight the game kind of formed its own identity mid second quarter, certainly as a third quarter got started, but each game is different so you have to be ready to play it as it starts unfolding.” 

On the versatility of the offense:

“Most versatile that we’ve been because of our personnel. The trust that we have him in the ability to move guys into different spots and then Nico having great command and understanding of everything that’s going on gives you that luxury.”

On if he has evolved as a coach:

“You look at the steps that our defense has taken, your team forms its own identity each year and it’s my responsibility to put them in a position to play a complete game together, find the best way to win. Tonight, that’s how the game unfolded.”

On how his team handled the environment:

“All in all handled it really well. Freshman quarterback coming into his first, you know, league game on the road, but there are a couple of things that we can clean up as well. But all in all, pretty solid.”

On if he is relieved, this game is over:

“It meant something to be here, and to play, and to win. Yes, but that’s just not what it was about in coming back here. We have a good football team, got high expectations. They continue to compete extremely hard every day to grow to become better. This was our first road test in the league. Tonight was about this ’24 football team and really proud of how they performed.”

On his game ball:

“It’ll go in the office for sure. There’ve been a couple of them, first win.”

On the growth of the program playing on the road:

“Yeah, look at what the defense does, you know, we’re in third down, give up a strip sack off the edge, sudden change they go out, create a turnover, get the ball right back. Through adversity tonight, everybody continued to play and compete and keep playing for each other. Really proud of them. That’s one of the things that we talked about going into this thing. But the defense’s ability to handle sudden-change adversity was a huge part of his football game.”

On winning the team's most physical game of the season:

“I think in this league, you got to be able to win different ways as the season unfolds. Each game is different. Each opponent, matchups, all of that. We need to be the most physical football team on the field every Saturday.”

On the bye week:

“We talked about starting off fast this season and we’ve done that. We got some guys that gotta get healthy, but as a football team next week, we got to continue to grow and get better. The areas where we’re not playing to the level that we’re capable of, those things show up as you go on and we gotta continue to get better at those things. So get some guys healthy, have some really good practices, and get ready for the next one.”

Other Tennessee News:

• Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel Previews Matchup vs NC State
• Tennessee Volunteers Look Like True College Football Contenders
• Josh Heupel Updates Tennessee Injury Report - Rickey Gibson Available vs NC State

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