What Josh Heupel said after No. 12 Tennessee's 34-31 win over Arkansas

What head coach Josh Heupel said after No. 12 Tennessee’s game against Arkansas Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium:

Opening Statement

“End of the day, good win. Ultimately, found a way to win at the end, made it close at the end as well. Offensively, you got to finish the previous drive before the true four-minute at the end. Defensively, you got to get a stop at the end. But knew it was going to be a tough ball game. A lot of unknowns, offensively going into it. Didn’t know what the defensive structure was going to look like. Early in the football game, we targeted a couple of things wrong in the run game, and that hurt us a little bit. But I thought potentially that could happen too because of the unknowns going into it. And then found a way to make some things happen offensively in the middle part of the game. Defensively, I love the way we started in the second half. Fourth quarter, obviously, want to play a little bit better defensively. Special teams were solid tonight. So it’s a good win. 

“I said it at the beginning of the week to you guys and to our football team, (Arkansas is) a good football team. They’re on the road at Ole Miss, one-possession game. Obviously the Notre Dame game gets away from them in the middle of the second quarter. But I thought it would probably be a four-quarter game, and that’s how we prepared. Love the competitive makeup.”

Tennessee playing one-possession games in all three SEC games so far

“Margins are small in this league. You’re playing like talent every single week. A play here, a play there changes the way the game is played. 

For us, tonight, we made it tougher than it needed to be at times — that’s not taking anything away from them — in all areas of the game. And then, obviously, when it’s a 10-1 penalty differential, you’re changing the way the game is played too. So I guess we’ve got to play a lot smarter.” 

If there was a common denominator in the third-down conversions for Arkansas

“Well, first of all, the quarterback gets out of pocket, makes some big plays in long yardage. We’re there at times to make the play and he makes the play. And then a couple of them, we give them some things in our coverage, in particular in zone principles. We’re not recognizing patterns and or bodies changing, who’s two, who’s three. And we can clean some of that up.”

The penalty discrepancy, if he got an explanation on the snap infraction  

“Yeah, I can’t speak to the explanation that I got. Our fans can watch it and judge for themselves what they thought.”

Peyton Lewis replacing Tennessee running back DeSean Bishop after he left with an injury

“Yeah, you guys have heard me say it, I don’t care where you’re at, how much you’ve played, you get into this stretch inside the SEC, the next guy is going to be called upon. Those running backs have all played well throughout the course of it. And it was a huge run, there by Peyton, really down the stretch in late third and fourth quarter. He played really well. And said it to the team, we were just talking about the game afterwards. Jadon Perlotte, right? Huge, huge play in the football game. He’s a part of it. You don’t know when your time is coming. You better get prepared. And, proud of those guys that were prepared for their moment tonight.” 

The seriousness of DeSean Bishop’s injury

“I don’t think it’s a long-term deal here at all.”

Josh Josephs’ forced fumble, the ensuing touchdown drive

“Yeah, multiple turnovers that we don’t maximize the opportunity. Defense creating field position happened in the first quarter too. So ultimately, if we can get all three phases playing together, we’ve got a chance to be really good.”

If this is the smallest the margins have ever been in the SEC

“It is, but I think the structure inside of college football and this league being at the top of the food chain, like, nobody’s got glaring holes. Everybody’s got enough depth that somebody goes down, there’s another guy in. There might be slight differences, but it’s just different in that way. Everybody’s able to patch their roster.”

Jordan Ross and Daevin Hobbs making plays defensively

“Daevin, I just felt like he was going to play really well for us. His comeback, our medical team, strength team and him did a great job getting prepared for when he was gonna be cleared. Played well tonight. Jordan Ross played extremely well off the edge, changed the football game. And we got great trust in him. His best is still in front of him. I’m really excited about what he did tonight and his continued growth.”

The mixed bag of sacking Taylen Green five times but him making plays scrambling

“I mean, you play a guy that athletic as you’re pushing the pocket, you can feel when you’re getting in a vulnerable spot, too, where you’re creating a lane for him to get out. So it’s always a combination of both. There were a couple of times where he escaped outside the backside of the pocket, where we should be on the top shoulder. And we got to go make those plays. But he’s a good player too.”

Joey Aguilar finishing the game

“Yeah, four-minute loaded boxes. He just turned the numbers into our favor there at the end. Wanted him to get down once the play is over. Just knocked the wind out of himself. So in that way it’s positive, but I would like him to take that hit at the very end.”

Chris Brazzell having a quiet game

“A little bit, just didn’t come his way because of the coverage. Missed a deep one early in the football game too. One in the red zone on a back shoulder throw where we’re not able to come down with it between quarterback and wide receiver. I felt like early in some ways we were just a little bit off, but there were a lot of unknowns too coming into this one, what you were going to see and how to attack it.”

If there were more unknowns with Arkansas’ offense or defense

“I think more unknown with defense is because of changing coordinator. Chris (Wilson) has done a good job throughout his career. You didn’t know what type of structure was going to show up. it’s a little bit different beginning in the third quarter and has certain parts in the first half too.”

Tennessee’s confidence playing 12 personnel with freshmen Jack Van Dorselaer

“Another young guy that has continued to grow and prove that he’s ready to play. He went out and executed at a really high level. Tonight, you saw the way he impacted the game a couple of weeks ago too. So continued growth from all of these guys. 

Braylon Staley injury update

“Braylon, is celebrating having fun in the locker room, so I anticipate him being ready to go.”