What Joey Aguilar said after No. 15 Tennessee's 41-34 OT win at Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, Miss. — What quarterback Joey Aguilar said Saturday night after No. 15 Tennessee’s 41-34 overtime win at Mississippi State:

His takeaways from that kind of game, that kind of win

“I’ll probably process everything a little later tonight or tomorrow. I’m still cooling off from the game, but exciting game, super fun. Thank God for putting me in this position and allowing my team to go out there and keep everybody safe and have a fun game. But, man, I’m not even sure. I’m still trying to process the game, you know what I mean? It was a great team win. We were in this position not too long ago (in overtime against Georgia) and we came out, focused on details throughout the week and got put in that position again. Shout out the team for fighting, shout out defense for getting us out of certain situations. But overall I think offensively we got to execute a little better, on my part for sure, but great win.”

What happened on the two interceptions in the second half, both balls being batted in the air

“Just bad ball placement. I just got to give my receiver a better chance to catch the ball. Nothing much other than that.”

Tennessee’s mindset to start the game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter 

“I tell them all the time in the huddle, just play by play and execute. I mean, if you try and focus on other stuff, your mind goes everywhere. So we just go in there and just take it literally play by play and just focus on the details of what we call and what we do.” 

Sharing a moment after the game with Mississippi State players and coaches

“Yeah, actually it was a chapel for the other team and we just had a little prayer after the game.”

Going back to Tennessee tight end Miles Kitselman on the game-tying drive after passes to him were picked off earlier in the game 

“I mean, he’s a big key in our run game and our pass game. And just to feed him the ball is going to help us out. And obviously one interception gets tipped in the air, that’s on me and I told him that. But at the end of the day, we need Miles and whatever I can do to get him the ball and get him out of his head and just go out there and play his game. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Tennessee’s drive to tie the game, how much he looks forward to those kind of opportunities as a quarterback

“I’ve been in a couple game-winning drives. Get us into like field goal range or to win the games. But it’s really confidence in my team and my offense. I mean, they’ve fought all all day, I made some mistakes, turned the ball over a little bit, but those guys believed in me and the least I could do is believe in them. And I went out there and trusted my receivers, trusted my running backs, my O-linemen, and we executed.”

What he saw on his 6-yard rushing touchdown to tie the game at 34-34 with 1:55 left

“Grass, I would say. I mean, I just Just followed my block, opened up and we had to get in the end zone. So I wasn’t going to do whatever I had to do to get in the end zone.”

What it says about this Tennessee team to find a way to win after so many ups and downs

“It just shows that this team, we stick together no matter what. And we kind of play off of each other. Defense got highs, offense got highs. Defense got lows, offense got lows. But we bounce energy within each other. Offense goes out there, not so good, defense goes out there, get a stop, get offense back rolling. And then vice versa, defense, something happens, offense goes out there and executes. But it just shows how connected this team is and that we just keep fighting.” 

Seeing so many Tennessee fans in the stands for a road game

“Man, it was a white out game, there was a lot of orange out there. Tennessee, they traveled. And it means a lot not only to me, but to this team, to show like the support that we got. And for it to be that deep of orange, it was awesome to see.”

Shawn Clark, his former coach at Appalachian State, passing away recently

“He gave me the opportunity to get out of JUCO and gave me a shot at App State. And this week was really hard on me. Coach Clark, man, I just appreciate him a lot for allowing me the opportunity and just praying for his family. Coach Clark means a lot.”