Josh Heupel prepared to find how Tennessee handles adversity

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is prepared to bounce back from a disappointing home loss to Pitt, preaching strength through adversity. After leading early, the Volunteers gave up 27 points in the second quarter and could not mount a second half comeback.

Heupel is excited to see how his players respond to early adversity in his first season.

“You find out what their mentality, attitude and makeup is going to be when they handle adversity as a loss,” Heupel told reporters during his Monday press conference. “Absolutely. I think I said it to you guys after the game, we’re going to find out a lot about our football team by the way they approached being in the building today.”

He continued: “Yesterday was a day where they came back and get some medical treatment. Today, you’re back into football. That’s looking at what happened on Saturday and then pushing forward. Being in the team meeting and being down on the field with those guys, there was good energy.”

After starting the season 1-1, Tennessee is preparing to play Tennessee Tech on Saturday before heading on the road to face No. 11 Florida in Week Four. The schedule does not get any easier down the stretch with games against No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Georgia and No. 17 Ole Miss.

Handling disappointment

Josh Heupel understands that with adversity comes disappointment. But he hopes to instill a particular mindset in his players as they go through the ups and downs of the season.

“You have to be able to flip the switch and move on,” said Heupel. “Your family, friends and fanbase are going to talk about the previous one, good or bad, leading up until kickoff the following Saturday. As a competitor, the great thing is you get a chance and have to move on quickly.”

As the team moves forward with injury questions at quarterback and a tough conference slate ahead, Heupel wants to make sure his team has its energy invested in the right place on gameday.

“Don’t pay attention to the outside noise, good or bad,” said Heupel. “Be consistent in the way you approach the lead up to kickoff. Your process has got to be right. As much as anything, there are some things that we’ve learned about the process leading up to kickoff that have to and can be better.”

Saturday will provide Tennessee with a chance to work on keeping this mindset as they prepare for the next week and the SEC schedule ahead.