NASHVILLE, TN — Tennessee arrived in Nashville a day after Christmas with confidence, positive momentum and hope.
The Vols departed Nashville with a frustrating reality check.
Josh Heupel's first season at the helm on Rocky Top ended on Thursday night with a 48-45 loss to Purdue in overtime of the Music City Bowl.
“Disappointed in the outcome," Heupel said following the game. "Disappointed for everybody inside the locker room tonight. They left everything out on the field. Disappointed in the result.
"Disappointed for (our players) tonight. And disappointed for our fans in the outcome of the game, too. The passion of our fanbase is just unsurpassed anywhere in college football. They are on fire, man. Driving up in the busses tonight was a special scene, as good as I’ve ever been a part of.”
Tennessee lost to Purdue despite leading 21-7 at the end of the first quarter. The Boilermakers shutout the Vols 16-0 in the second quarter to take a 23-21 lead into the half. They then shutout UT in overtime to set up a 39-yard game-winning field goal.
The Vols out-gained Purdue 663 to 627, were better on third down, won the turnover battle by two and held them to three field goals in the red zone. Still, Tennessee came up short to finish 7-6 on the season.
"The journey has been unbelievable," Heupel said. "When we took over the program 11 months ago, where it was and where it is today, two completely different (programs). Proud of these guys. They’ve come so far.
"Special thanks to our seniors. Guys that stayed, competed, that bought in, that led. Showed what the spirit of a Volunteer is."
The touchdown that wasn’t
Purdue shutout Tennessee in overtime, but did so in controversial fashion.
The Vols received the ball first in overtime and managed to get to the goal line. On fourth-and-goal from the one, Jaylen Wright took a handoff and appeared to score. But the officials prematurely blew the whistle and called the play dead.
“They said the forward progress had been stopped,” Heupel said. “Sounded like the whistle blew after he extended the football.”
“Initially I was excited, because I thought we scored,” Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker added. “It was a tough call. I feel like me and my teammates gave it our all, and the outcome didn’t end how we wanted it to.”
Second quarter struggles
Second quarter struggles proved to be the difference in the game. After jumping out to a 21-7 lead in the first quarter, the Vols were out-scored 16-0 in the second frame to head into halftime trailing by two.
Tennessee gained 198 yards in the first quarter on 17 plays. That was good enough for 21 points and an average of 11.6 yards per play.
On 22 plays in the second quarter, the Vols gained 60 yards on 22 plays, didn't score and averaged 2.72 yards per play.
“Completely out of the ordinary,” Heupel said of the second quarter. “I didn’t feel like in the second quarter we executed some simple things very well. We got a couple things that got a chance to be explosive plays. We don’t execute them. We got some simple things in third-down situations that we don’t execute."
Purdue gained 155 yards in the second quarter on 22 plays for an average of 7.1 yards per play and 16 points.
“Not taking anything away from Purdue, but we weren’t very good in that quarter. I thought there were some things — maybe the layoff — (that were) just uncharacteristic of us from how we were playing later in the football season tonight.”
An afternoon to forget
Many Vols struggled in the Music City Bowl, but Willie Martinez's defensive backs particularly had a day to forget.
Purdue quarterback Aidan O'Connell threw for 534 yards and five touchdowns on 26-for-47 passing to light up the Tennessee secondary despite throwing three interceptions.
“They made some competitive catches during the course of the ballgame," Heupel said. "Thought their tight end, in particular, made some competitive catches, created some explosive plays with a couple of our young guys in there early in the football game. So yes, they executed. Yes, there are some things we need to do, that we’re capable of. We all have to learn from it and get better.”
"They didn't run anything that we haven't seen on film," Tennessee senior defensive back Theo Jackson added. "We just didn't execute when we needed to. I know that they had guys out, we had guys out. But their guys stepped up and made more plays than we did."
Tennessee's secondary was called for five pass interferences. Starting junior corner Warren Burrell was responsible for four of them.
Other Tidbits
"That's on me," Heupel said when asked about Tennessee's final possession of regulation that resulted in a missed 56-yard field goal from Chase McGrath that could have won the game.
Tennessee scored to tie the game with 1:35 remaining and got the ball back with a chance to win it after the defense forced a three-and-out. The Vols started the drive on the Purdue 40 with 44 seconds to go and all three timeouts in their pocket, but elected for two runs and two deep shots instead of plays with a greater chance of succeeding.
“Some high-coverage coverage from (Purdue),” Heupel said of the two run plays. “The box was light. Thought we had a chance to handle it and pick up some things. We didn’t execute the call and just when we were on the 41-yard line, 42-yard line, whatever it was there, for a couple of plays there, to get us in a little bit better field position.”
It forced McGrath to attempt a game-winning field goal that was as difficult as it gets.
“Right on the edge there,” Heupel said. “(Special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler) believed in it, but the biggest thing is Chase did, too. He had the look in his eye where he wanted the opportunity to go drain it. He gave it a hell of a run. Disappointed we didn’t get the ball just a little bit closer for him."
Fake injuries by the opponent were once again an issue for the Vols' offense. Heupel said that during the game, officials came up to him and told him "there needs to be a rule change."
“I thought that was pretty comical that they came up and said that to me," Heupel said. "They think there needs to be a rule change.”
Cedric Tillman became the first Tennessee wide receiver to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season since Justin Hunter did it in 2012. Tillman caught a 41-yard touchdown and 61-yard touchdown in the first quarter to do so.
Tillman finishes the season with 64 catches for 1,081 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Heupel confirmed after the game that Jabari Small was banged up throughout the afternoon. Small still managed to rush for 180 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, but needed help from Wright at times.
"If you saw him during the course of the night, he was just playing through the course of things really all night long," Heupel said. "That was kind of true for a couple of our guys, but certainly for Jabari.”
Stats to know
- Tennessee fell to 13-9 in overtime games all-time. It was the first overtime game since the 2019 BYU game. The Vols are now 0-2 against Purdue.
- With the loss, Tennessee is now 29-25 in bowl games. The 29 wins are seventh-most among FBS programs. UT is now 1-2 in the Music City Bowl and the only two overtime bowl games the Vols have played in both came in the Music City Bowl.
- Tennessee set a new single-season record for points scored in the first quarter, surpassing the previous record of 484 in 1993. The Vols finished the season with 511 points scored.
- Tennessee also set a new single-season record for touchdowns, surpassing the previous record of 63 set in 2016. Tennessee finished the season with 67 touchdowns.
- The Vols out-scored opponents 190- 51 in the first quarter this season. UT led the country in first-quarter scoring, averaging 14.08 points, more than two and a half points more than the second team (Georgia - 11.46).
- Hendon Hooker set two new single-season program records this season in passer efficiency rating (182.04) and completion percentage (68.2%). He also finished in the top-10 for single-season records in total offense: 3,562 yards (4th); passing yards: 2,945 (10th); passing touchdowns: 31 (t-3rd); consecutive games with a touchdown pass: 12 (t-3rd); and quarterback rushing yards: 617 (3rd).
- Cedric Tillman’s 1,081 receiving yards this season were the fourth-most in in program history. Tillman had a career-high three touchdown receptions in the Music City Bowl, finishing the season with 12 touchdown catches, putting him in a tie for second in program history with Cedrick Wilson (2000).
- With eight tackles for a loss on Thursday, Tennessee finished the 2021 season with a school-record 102 TFLs.
- Chase McGrath did not miss an extra point all season and has made 136 in a row.
- Jeremy Banks finished with a career-high 20 tackles. He also set a career high with 2.5 tackles for loss.
- Byron Young tallied a career-high eight tackles and career-high 2.5 tackles for loss.
- Kamal Hadden recorded his first-career interception.
Box Score
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