Josh Heupel explains going conservative in fourth quarter of overtime loss to Georgia
Tennessee had regained every bit of momentum the Vols had lost along the way. Leading 35-30 midway through the fourth quarter, Joshua Josephs strip sacked Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton and Byrson Eason recovered at the Bulldog 34-yard line.
The capacity checkerboard crowd was looking for a knockout blow.
Instead, Tennessee was called for offsides on first down, then ran three straight times, gaining nine total yards and settling for a 48-yard Max Gilbert field goal to take a 38-30 lead with 6:40 left.
“It’s a situation where (the Georgia defense is) in the two-high bracket coverage,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said during his postgame press conference, when asked about the sequence. “We obviously don’t pick up what we needed to.”
The rest was history.
Georgia went on a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, scoring on a 28-yard pass from Stockton to London Humphreys on fourth-and-6, then got the two-point conversion to tie the game.
Tennessee answered with a 14-play, 50-yard drive to set up a potentially game-winning field goal with seven seconds left, but Gilbert missed wide right from 43 yards and the Vols didn’t have any answers in overtime, losing 44-41.
Tennessee led 38-30 midway through fourth quarter
The Vols (2-1, 0-1 SEC) led 21-7 after the first quarter, then watched Georgia (3-0, 1-0) score 20 straight points to take a 27-21 lead late in the third.
Chris Brazzell II’s 56-yard touchdown with seven seconds left in the third quarter gave Tennessee new life. After a Georgia field goal, Braylon Staley caught a 32-yard touchdown to put the Vols up 35-30.
But the momentum flipped again after the Vols decided to run it and kick a field goal after the fumble recovery.
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“We get behind the chains,” Heupel said, “and I was willing to be aggressive there if we got to a fourth down, too, had a little trap play. And end up losing inside on it. And we don’t pick it up and end up having to kick.
“And you got a chance to take it to full two possessions, for sure. But, first to second down, a little bit of how (Georgia’s defense was) playing was why we were doing what we were doing, too.”
Josh Heupel: ‘We just got to get a little bit better.’
Tennessee drove down to the Georgia 20-yard line in the closing seconds, but offensive guard Shamurad Umarov jumped offsides on third-and-5 with seven seconds left, as quarterback Joey Aguilar was looking to get to the middle of the field to line up the Gilbert field goal attempt.
Heupel was asked after the game if this kind of loss serves as an emphasis on the importance of finishing games, after the Vols failed to do just that on Saturday.
“It’s everything,” Heupel said. “Defense gets a big turnover. Offensively, details in what we were doing to go finish it, drain the clock and make it a full two-possession game.
“It takes everything. Fundamentals, technique, all of it. The competitive makeup of our team, though, I love what I saw. We just got to get a little bit better.”
