Tennessee coach Josh Heupel knows full well what he wants his offense to be. With an up-tempo pace, Heupel wants points in bunches. He wants to take away an opponent’s hope before halftime. Despite what he wants or says, he can’t field that sort of offense this season. It’s time to get used to that.
The Vols have played six games this season and that’s plenty enough to grasp what Tennessee’s offense is and what they aren’t. The Vols are certainly not the explosive team that haunted defensive coordinators last season. In fact, Tennessee’s offense is not even close to that level. No matter. Heupel is proving he can win games without fielding a high-scoring offensive unit. Despite that, his latest comments make me think he’s either trying to encourage his players through the press or simply being optimistic.
“Absolutely,” Heupel said when asked if the Vols had the personnel to be uber-explosive. “We’ve had guys open and we haven’t hit them, communication has been off at times. We just have to be a little bit better. It wasn’t pretty on Saturday, I’ll be the first to admit that, but it’s not that far off either. We have to do ordinary things at a really high level.”
The Vols beat Texas A&M on Saturday without the highlight plays that were routine in 2022. Most would say that’s not good enough to win at Alabama. However, I’m not so sure.
Tennessee would undoubtedly like to be more explosive on offense. However, Alabama is in an offensive transition as well, meaning points have been hard to come by for both teams. However, the Vols are still fifth in the SEC with 33.5 points per game. Alabama, after experimenting with quarterbacks for much of September, finally have settled with Jalen Milroe at quarterback and are ninth in the SEC with just over 30 points scored per game.
If one asked a casual Tennessee football fan what game was Heupel’s best coached since being a Vol, Alabama in 2021 would likely top the list. However, I’ll take last week’s Texas A&M game as the best game I’ve seen Heupel coach during his UT tenure. Why? Heupel won in ways that he’s not accustomed to, which is running the football and playing great defense. That’s the sign of a great coach.
Heupel may not have the quarterback that can lead the Vols to “fiddy” as so many fans would like to see. However, he has an offense that can keep opposing teams from scoring 30 because the Vols can control the clock with an offensive line and running backs that are becoming one of the most formidable running attacks in college football.
We can go back and forth about Heupel’s dedication to Milton. Personally, I’ve long thought that freshman Nico Iamaleava should have seen more real game-time snaps earlier this season, but there’s no arguing with Tennessee’s record. The Vols have only lost one game, to Florida, and that was without preseason All-SEC center Cooper Mays. Now, the Vols are 5-1 and 2-1 in the SEC despite a bevy of injuries. Had Mays been in the lineup against Florida, that game would likely have been much different. The Vols are much closer to being undefeated than they are forlorn. That’s a credit to Heupel.
Tennessee’s offense is going to be ball control until something drastically changes, such as a change at quarterback, and that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
Heupel could use some help from his players in this season of adaptation. Milton could be more accurate, which would allow the Vols to call more aggressive passing plays. Then, there are certain players, like Ramel Keyton, who have to be more consistent, as he was last season. Keyton dropped what would have been a touchdown pass last week. With so few opportunities to change the course of a game, that’s not acceptable. Keyton needs to be the dependable player he was in 2022, especially with the Vols’ best receiver, Bru McCoy, out for the season with an ankle injury.
“You have to wipe the previous one clean, and you have to take the lessons forward with you, but you have to wipe it clean — good or bad,” Heupel said of Keyton’s drop. “You guys have heard me say that before. Ramel’s played really well, and we have great trust that he’ll play extremely well this Saturday.”
Heupel has great trust in Keyton, as he should. I have great trust in Heupel as well, more than I even did last season. I don’t trust Heupel to throw up 60 points. However, I trust him to create an offensive gameplan that will manufacture points, not just create highlight plays. The Vols have only one loss, have everything to play for and could easily be undefeated if Mays had never been hurt. It may not be as exciting as last season, but Heupel is proving he’s a great coach with limited personnel – despite what he may say about his offensive players publicly.
