Sure, the play was sloppy. Tennessee football allowed a blocked punt and had two fumbles in the second half at the Pittsburgh Panthers Saturday, which is why they needed overtime to beat them 34-27.

Still, Pitt entered the game the higher ranked team, No. 17 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the Coaches Poll. As a result, there’s a legitimate argument to celebrate this win more than worry about the negatives.

Center Cooper Mays appears determined to do just that. Mays noted that the Vols lost to Pitt at home last year. Remember, this team also won the ACC Championship and just beat a Power Five foe the week before.

“Anytime you get a win, you can never, just be disappointing in anything really,” he said. “It’s college football. You can’t really take anything for granted.”

Indeed, the day’s upsets and near-upsets probably made Tennessee football feel a lot better about just getting a win. There were surprises all over.

Sure, the Vols played sloppy at times at Pitt, but at the end of the day, they won the game. Mays didn’t ignore the sloppy play, but he isn’t about to ignore that win.

“We definitely made it a little bit harder on ourselves than it should’ve been probably, but, you know, they’re a good football team, and, you know, it was a big time win, so you can’t ever be too mad about that,” he said.

As for so many mistakes Tennessee football made in the game? Well, Mays appears to see that in a positive light. After all, it means the Vols were able to respond to those mistakes.

“It’s hard to fight in the long game like that,” he said. “It’s never going to be easy when you get down to overtime with a team that’s in the top 25 on the road. That’s not easy at all.”

Of course, the standout performance in the game was the defense. That unit held Pitt to just 16 points on red zone trips in the second half and overtime that were spotted to them by the Vols’ offense and special teams.

That performance wasn’t lost on Mays, who noted that the defense had numerous big stands. He said it was very impressive for them to be able to tighten up the way they did.

“In a little bit of a contrast towards last year when it seemed like were we kind of just, like in a shootout in some games, for them to buckle their straps down and just hold it steady where it was, it was nice to see,” he said.

When it comes to the problems that Pitt gave the offense, Mays also noted that the Panthers have a good defensive front. In fact, he said it rivals that of the Georgia Bulldogs.

“Those guys are, they’re the real deal up front,” he said. “They create a lot of havoc, they create a lot of disruption, and, you know, it’s very hard to pick up everybody because there are so many people that line up on the line, and you don’t exactly know who’s going to drop out and who’s going to blitz.”

It is true that Pitt, at least under Pat Narduzzi, has placed a unique emphasis on the defensive front. This is the program, after all, that produced Aaron Donald.

Now, they have Calijah Kancey playing defensive tackle. Mays said he’d actually rather face former UGA and current Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis than Kancey, but that’s mainly due to his style specifically.

“I’m a smaller guy that uses athleticism to win,” he said. “It’s hard to get hands on guys that can cover so much ground and be that fast in the middle because your used to going against bodies that are bigger and slower and stronger.”

With the win, the Vols move to No. 15 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the Coaches Poll. They could be looking at a top 10 ranking in a week.

Mays said he wouldn’t have expected that possibility when they were 3-7 back in 2020. Although he said he doesn’t pay too much attention to such rankings, he used the word “surreal” when discussing them.

“I’m pretty happy about that,” he said of their current ranking. “We’re getting a little bit of respect, so we’ve just got to make sure we play up to that ranking.”

However, just as Mays won’t apologize for beating a ranked team, the upsets in college football appear to have made it clear to him that Tennessee football can’t overlook the Akron Zips this week. That could be difficult.

After all, the Vols begin SEC play the next week against the Florida Gators, and in uncommon fashion, they have a chance to enter that game undefeated while UF has a loss. They still have to win Saturday.

“When you look at Marshall and teams like that pulling off big upsets, and Appalachian State, you never look over an opponent,” he said. “This week, you’ve got to focus in on Akron, and then you move onto the next.”

Indeed, the Thundering Herd upset the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Mountaineers shocked the Texas A&M Aggies. Also, the Texas Longhorns also nearly beat the Alabama Crimson Tide. Tennessee football must stay focused.