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What Josh Heupel said on Monday about Tennessee's loss at Alabama, the Kentucky game

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey14 hours agoGrantRamey
Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images | Tennessee coach Josh Heupel points to the running clock while yelling at the referees for a timeout during a college football game between Tennessee and Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Oct. 18, 2025.
Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images | Tennessee coach Josh Heupel points to the running clock while yelling at the referees for a timeout during a college football game between Tennessee and Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Oct. 18, 2025.

What head coach Josh Heupel said during his weekly press conference on Monday, as No. 17 Tennessee prepares to go to Kentucky for Saturday night’s 7:45 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network at Kroger Field in Lexington:

Opening Statement 

“Obviously, everybody is disappointed with the outcome from the other day. But whether you win or lose, you gotta flip it forward and watch the video, learn from it. And that’s what we gotta do this week, getting ready to go play in the border war game, rivalry game. You look at these games historically, they’ve been really tight. And so we’re playing a really good football team. You look at them Saturday against Texas, statistically won the game in about every way. Just not on the scoreboard. They take it to overtime. Another test inside of this league on the road against a good football team. And one that we’re looking forward to and hopefully we’ll see a lot of our fans make the trip up there to Lexington.” 

The status of Joey Aguilar for the Kentucky game after appearing to suffer and play through a neck injury at Alabama 

“Obviously (there were) a couple hits that Joey took, but he’ll be ready to go this Saturday.”

If the Kentucky film against Texas shows Tennessee players they’re facing a good team on Saturday

“Oh, they know they’re going to play a good team every week inside of this league. First of all, again, another road test. You can point to that (Texas) game and see the quality of the opponent that we’re playing.” 

How to get this Tennessee team ready to go back on the road after a tough loss at Alabama 

“It’s the nature of the game that we that we play. You gotta be the same competitor every week, every day. And that’s why your routine matters. And getting ready and prepared matters. So this is our next opportunity as a football team and we got to continue to grow.” 

Tennessee’s high number of penalties, how it can be addressed

“Yeah, some of it comes from the details of what we’re doing. A couple of things with our alignments and/or catch points. And it’s what you’re doing every single day and every drill. So you put all that together. When you have a penalty, it makes it tougher. You’re giving them a first-and-5, it changes the way the game is played. Or you’re (facing) second-and-15. Changes the way the game is played. So that’s part of what we showed and talked about today.” 

Using multiple rotations on Tennessee’s offensive line at Alabama, what he saw from that and how he balances continuity vs. using multiple players

“Yeah, continuity does matter. The positions that guys played in, that’s how they trained. Your offensive line, very rarely in a given year are five guys are going to start and play every rep all year long. And so they cross-trained at different spots. And getting David (Sanders) back allows us the ability to move those guys around a little bit. I do think they have comfort in playing different spots, and communication is solid. Ultimately, there’s a couple of things that we got to do a little bit better. I don’t think that’s directly correlated to guys moving. I think it’s just timing and how we executed it.”

If those rotations will continue on Tennessee’s offensive line 

“Yeah, we’ll have some rotation with our front five.”

What Jaedon Harmon needs to do to get playing time

“Ultimately, Jaedon has done a really good job on special teams. Proof of your product is in your preparation on the practice field, too. And Jaedon is a guy that we love inside of our building. I just want to see continued growth from him.” 

Alabama limiting chunk plays from Tennessee’s passing game

“Some of it’s just the structure of what they’re playing. Inverted two coverage with corners high and soft is going to limit. That’s why some of the stuff in the middle chunks were really good for us. Ultimately, we’ve got to find a way to create more explosives.”

DeSean Bishop’s production in recent games

“He made a couple of elite cuts and making people miss to have extended, long runs. But he has done a really good job of pressing it. And the first outside zone play, Lance does a great job of handling the edge of the defense and we’re able to get around it. Next one, we cut up inside and make somebody miss. DeSean’s, I was just talking about being the same competitor every single day. Like, you know exactly what you’re getting from them. And guys that do that continue to get better. And that’s been DeSean’s journey in college football and this season too.”

Tennessee’s tackling issues in the second half against Alabama

“Some of them were in a bad body position. Some of them, we just don’t wrap up. And ultimately make the play, so we got to find a way to get them down and make that play.”

Tennessee’s challenges playing on the road

“I mean, I think it starts with the everyday ordinary things, communication. I mean, not having the pre-snap penalties. I think that’s where it starts on the offensive side of the football. The nature of the game, it’s 11-on-11 between the white lines, but all of your players being able to be in the present and just go play the next play and the momentum swings that naturally occur, being able to be settled in mentally, physically and emotionally and go play the next play.”

Why they Tennessee has lacked focus on the road

“Well, I don’t think we’ve played perfect at home either. I take you in there and watch the tape. There’s so many controllables that we control that can change the way a game’s played. And you also understand this game is never going to be perfect either.”

If he likes the energy from the team during games, on the sideline

I told them this morning, I love the way we continue to compete and play. We got to play smarter. That’s in alignment, assignment, it’s execution, it’s all of those things, but obviously, end of the first half when momentum swings, right? Our ability to reset at halftime, come out and compete in the third quarter, I’ll take that from that group every day. Now we got to execute better. But ultimately, this group competes hard and plays hard.”

What Kentucky does well

“I think their offensive line, their experience, physicality is a big part of their identity. Defensively, again, big and strong up front, multiple in front structure, coverage rotation. They’re a good football team. They play a tough schedule. You always do inside of this league, but they played a tough one.”

Tennessee’s offense struggling after the defense has forced a fumble

“Have not executed in that situation. It’s nothing extravagant. It’s us doing our job being in the present and executing. So the other day we recognize a structure late. We’ve already gave an indicator to the center and trying to check a play, and that’s how an errant snap happens, and all of a sudden, you’re behind the chains. So ultimately, we just got to be a little bit better. You got to take advantage of those situations too. We’re down 10 and got a chance to close the gap.”