Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel didn’t try to make any excuses about the Vols’ loss to Georgia on Saturday.
“This program is a long ways away, rear view mirror, from being okay with the wrong outcome,” the fourth-year Tennessee coach said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “I think we look at the second half, the first half too, missed opportunities, things we didn’t take advantage of in all three phases of the game.
“All that being said, it’s a one-position game late in the fourth (quarter). We’ve got to make a play. I told the guys before the game. Games like that you’ve got to play smart. You’ve got to be extremely physical. We were physical, but you’ve got to go take the game in the fourth quarter too. There’s a lot of different reasons, but we didn’t get it done.”
The Vols didn’t take the game in the fourth quarter and were outscored 14-0 against the Bulldogs in a 31-17 loss in Sanford Stadium. That’s nothing new. Tennessee has only scored 14 points against Georgia, which is now 8-2 and 6-2 in the SEC, in the second half of the last four contests between the two teams.
The latest loss to Georgia leaves the Vols in a lurch. Tennessee has to wait for the College Football Playoff rankings to come out on Tuesday to see where they might be in the postseason. Tennessee is still considered a likely participant in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff by most playoff simulations. However, Tennessee probably doesn’t control its own destiny with a home game against UTEP on Saturday and a trip to Nashville to close the season on Nov. 30.
Heupel seemed confident his Vols would bounce back despite the inferior opponents on tap and Tennessee’s postseason future very much in doubt.
“This group is extremely competitive,” Heupel said. “They work hard. They made last week a big game because of what they’ve invested. We need to be better, things that we control. It’s a group that’s been competitive and on the grass on Saturdays.”
There are a couple of ways to look at the rest of the season for the Vols, who will celebrate Senior Day in Neyland Stadium at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday. One could view the season as lost for the Vols, who are 8-2 and 5-2 in the SEC. However, Tennessee’s team could view the remaining schedule as an opportunity to win – and win big – and, subsequently, win over some favor from the College Football Playoff committee.
“You’re in the arena,” Heupel said. “You’ve got to go make it happen. We’ve got to continue to grow. They recognize the opportunity that we have this week so expect everyone to respond in a really positive way. It was that way today.”
The Vols have responded well following losses this season. Tennessee beat Florida after losing to Arkansas in October. It’s worth noting that the Gators looked like a team that was falling apart at the time, but Florida is now 5-5 and 3-4 in the SEC. One could argue that win carries much more weight than it once did. Nevertheless, the Vols don’t have a win this season more impressive that what beating Georgia would have been.
Tennessee’s most impressive win has come when it beat Alabama, which is now 8-2 and 4-2 in the SEC. The Vols have beaten the Crimson Tide two of the last three times the teams have played. However, the Vols still haven’t beaten Georgia since 2016.
Is Tennessee closer than in previous years? If there was one area in which Heupel saw the gap close between the Vols and Bulldogs, it was the Vols’ receivers’ ability to get open against Georgia’s defensive backs.
“I thought they did some really good things on Saturday, one on ones we were much better on third down than, certainly than a year ago, against them,” Heupel said. “That’s where the game has changed from a year ago.”
Maybe, but it still hasn’t changed enough for the Vols to be victorious. And Heupel knows there is no excuse for that.
