After Tennessee football beat Oklahoma in Josh Heupel's return to Norman, he met with the media.
Here's everything he had to say on the win.
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM
Opening statement
Good win. It’s always hard to come on the road against good football teams and a great environment tonight. And 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 time. Different than it has probably ever been in my career.
And special teams were solid. Max (Gilbert) did a great job putting it through the upright and changing the game just as far as possessions. And kickoff cover, solid. Punt return, gave up a little bit more than we wanted to, but all in all a solid night there.
And 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 (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 second half played pretty tight just the way it game was unfolding. Great win for the football team and proud of the way that we approached the week, how we prepared, how we practiced and how hard we played in there.
On offensive tackle injuries to Lance Heard, John Campbell Jr.
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, 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.
Running eight-straight times on a touchdown drive
Running the football is our baseline, our bread and butter. It’s how we get started. I thought with the structure changes, 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 his mother passing away
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 his play calling with a good defense
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've got to have a high level defense. And 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's two quarterbacks
(Oklahoma offensive coordinator) 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 receiving the game ball from Nico Iamaleava
This game was never about me coming back here, not for this football team. And 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 returning to Norman
Walking off that field with the win felt pretty good.
On big pass plays when the offense was struggling
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 the defense playing well effecting play calling
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 the third quarter got started, but each game is different so you have to be ready to play it as it starts unfolding.
On if this is the most versatile offense he's had
Most versatile that we’ve been because of our personnel. The trust that we have in the ability to move guys into different spots and then Nico having a great command and understanding of everything that’s going on gives you that luxury.
On if he's evolved as a coach to win with a defense
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. And tonight, that’s how the game unfolded.
On how the team handled the road environment
All in all, handled it really well. Freshman quarterback coming into his first league game on the road, but there’s a couple things that we can clean up, as well but all in all, pretty solid.
On if he's relieved that the game is behind him
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've got 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 what he'll do with the 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 winning on the road
Look at what the defense does, 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 a physical game
I think in this league, you gotta 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 having a bye week next
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 gotta 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.
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