After Tennessee football's win over UTEP on Saturday, Vols head coach Josh Heupel met with the media.

Here's everything he had to say.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Great day to honor our men and women that serve in our military. It was awesome to recognize them, have a couple of them walk with me. So many of them on the field today. Thank them for everything that they do. Awesome to recognize our senior class. These guys have meant so much this program. When I first got here, kind of resetting this program, building this program, what it looks like to be evolved and what it means to be in the building. I've done an unbelievable job of helping us grow and couldn't have done it without him. Great leaders, great players, most of all, great men. It's a great group.

I really didn't say anything about the ball game. Probably should have started that way. Defensively, just gave up a few plays, some yardage, but played really well from the jump. Offensively, just a little bit off in some ordinary, simple things and that's quarterback, it was offensive line, a couple of our targets and a couple of those drives were starting inside the 10-yard line, too. It's a little bit different than being in the normal field, but once they just settled in and did ordinary things, which you guys hear me say all the time, but once we started doing the everyday things consistently, all 11, had a really good day. Create explosive plays, were efficient in the run game, created some explosive plays there too and efficient in the red zone. Proud of that, just settling into the ball game after not our best start.

Reporter: You always talk about controlling what you can control, which you did out here, but there were some other things that happened this afternoon that really worked in your favor, too. Have you talked about that? Did you just talk about that with your team?

Heupel: What were those things? I don't know.

Reporter: Ole Miss got beat, so that's their third loss, and Indiana got clobbered at Ohio State.

Heupel: I said it, there's a lot of football left to be played. We've seen it, we've lived it, both sides of it. Like it's about controlling yourself and and preparing and going and playing good on Saturdays. And I'm proud of the way we handled this week. Heal up this afternoon and tomorrow and invest and prepare in a great way, practice in a great way, and then we need to go play great football next Saturday when we take the field in Nashville.

He has made some big explosive plays. The guys up at the line of scrimmage have done a great job of getting him started. But he's the right combination of control and command. And I'm gonna say playing on edge, reckless abandon a little bit, you know what I mean? On the right side of that era. Done a really good job back there. Want to catch the one clean today, but it's a huge part of the game, field position matters so much, it changes calls, it changes scenarios so much and the return game was big. The one kick return we had, but the guys up front did a really good job, Peyton (Lewis) did, obviously, Boo, explosive plays and then our cover units in particular, punt, did an elite job of pinning them and Turbo (Josh Turbyville) just banging it out of the back of the end zone. Something you don't take take for granted.

The better you play, the more you win, the bigger the games get, doesn't matter. For us, this is the next step in our journey, laser-focused in how we prepare, how we practice, get ready to go play and you're gonna have to play well and you need to play well in the whole three phases in this one.

We've just been a little bit off on some opportunities, quarterback and him. It was great to see him get those opportunities, take advantage of it, but special to see him finish it out that way today on Senior Day. He's meant so much to us and this program and to me.

Bru is one of the greatest team guys I've ever been around. Will do anything for anyone. Will play without the ball in his hands as hard as anybody I've been around. Takes great pride in that. There's been some opportunities and we just hadn't connected on it and, man, you watch him after one of those plays and he resets to the next play as well as anybody. Today was cool just to see him connect and go finish on a couple of big plays and really excited for him and his family.

I thought both play extremely hard, ran physical for the most part. Did a great job of hitting holes. There's a couple of them that he had an opportunity to press or to bend back on, but they ran physical, pad level, strain but both of them played extremely well.

I mean, these guys, when I got here, there was a lot of the outside noise around this program. It is way different than it was when I started. And that doesn't happen because of me. It doesn't happen simply because of assistant coaches, they're huge part of it, too, but, it's got to be from within the locker room and when a lot of guys left, they chose to stay, believe in this program, want to be a part of this program, believed in me, trusted enough in me to help build this thing. It takes a special person to do that and these guys are special and you look at the success that they've had on the field, I don't know. This is second year in three years that I think we've been undefeated at home. This is a storied program and they put it back on solid foot footing.

I think we're like at 120 guys inside of our team room. They all work and compete the same way every single day. They all have to live up to the same expectations, meetings, practice, weight room. You know, some guys receive more, I don't know, public attention because of their play on the field, but man, everybody is invested in the same way and the opportunity to get young guys in the game, some experience, walk-ons, whatever, whoever, it's important when you get those opportunities to do that, and you want those opportunities because they've earned it, man. They've sacrificed as much as anybody.

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