Tennessee’s win over Alabama was great for the Vols. The continued offensive struggles, especially in the first half, against the Crimson Tide weren’t so grand.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel wasn’t exactly in a dissection mode when asked about his offense following the No. 11 Vols’ 24-17 comeback victory against No. 7 Bama.
“Margins are tight,” Heupel said. “You gotta be on the right side of the scoreboard. You gotta be the best team on the field. That’s our goal. Our goal is also to become the best that we can offensively.”
That seemed far fetched on Saturday, especially early in the game. The Vols didn’t score a single point in the first half for the third consecutive game, a remarkable streak that dates back to 1963. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava ended up playing well in the second half, but struggled for most of the game. The redshirt freshman completed 14 of 27 passes for 194 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Pass protection was once again a challenge as the Vols gave up three sacks.
“Nico’s got to settle in a little bit earlier,” Heupel said. “Some things down the football field that we got to execute. Run game. We got to execute the blocking part of it. And um pass protection too.”
Iamaleava not only struggled throwing the ball in the first half; he also struggled with his health when he was knocked out of the game following a hit from behind. Iamaleava’s face slammed against the turf and he grabbed his back as he was forced to sit out a play, which resulted in an interception thrown by Vols’ backup Gaston Moore. Iamaleava, however, was back on the Vols’ following play and continued to improve until finally leading Tennessee to the second consecutive win over Bama in Neyland Stadium.
“Young quarterback that’s going to continue to get better,” Heupel said. “Guys around him got to help him. To him, that means just doing their job at a really high level, but to me (with) quarterbacks. It’s toughness. It’s mental toughness.
“When it matters the most, how do you perform and how do you control the game? And there’s a lot of things, just physical mental toughness, that I really liked tonight. And obviously there’s some things we got to get better at and him too. And and you know we’ll keep pushing for that.”
When asked about the resiliency of his team, Heupel said, “Nobody blinks an eye. They’ve got competitive composure. Understand that we got to make some adjustments. We’ve got to go execute. We’ve got to go do our job, but inside the locker room and talk about guys. They have belief, confidence and trust in one another and continue to play for one another on their side of the ball, on the other side of the ball. It’s awesome. The culture that you want to have inside your locker room. It’s really special.”
Iamaleava didn’t enjoy a perfect pocket to pass from against Alabama. However, it was much better than he has faced earlier this season.
“Not good early, but second half resiliency, physical,” Heupel said. “I’ll take that part of it for sure.”
Tennessee may still be finding itself on offense. However, there’s no self-doubt when it comes to the Vols on defense.
“This group believes that it’s really good,” Heupel said. “And if they play 11 guys together and play physical and that they got a chance to be really special and they played really well tonight.
“This team’s got a lot of confidence. They also know that we’ve got to improve. But on a Saturday night, at the end of it, no matter how we got there, they’re able to appreciate a win, which I think it’s really important in the landscape of college football.”
The landscape of football has certainly turned into a survive-and-advance kind of mentality. And despite some surprising offensive struggles, Tennessee has a 6-1 record, which is as good as any team in the SEC.
