Rick Neuheisel: Tennessee's late TDs vs. Missouri could 'come back to haunt' Josh Heupel

Tennessee’s final two possessions against Missouri on Saturday at Neyland Stadium will be filed away by Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwtiz, according to Rick Neuheisel. He believes they could come back to haunt Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, too.

Neuheisel, the former Colorado, Washington and UCLA head coach who was on the CBS broadcast team for No. 5 Tennessee’s 66-24 win Saturday, was the guest speaker the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday.

During the appearance, he was asked about his comments on the broadcast that Tennessee was running up the score with two touchdowns in the final six minutes.

Joe Milton III, after replacing Hendon Hooker at quarterback, threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Ramel Keyton with 5:43 left in the fourth quarter, making it a 59-24 Tennessee lead. Freshman running back Dylan Sampson scored on a 1-yard run with 36 second left to get to 66 points, after Milton threw a 58-yard completion to freshman receiver Squirrel White.

“There is a pressure, and I said this also (on the broadcast),” Neuheisel said on Monday, “where you want players that have worked all week long to play … so if you’re putting players in the game, like Joe Milton, getting those chances rather than handing it off. Maybe Joe comes back (next season), who knows.”

Sampson’s touchdown run was the second of two straight rush attempts from the 1-yard line in the final minute, after Milton’s deep shot to White.

“When they didn’t make the touchdown on the first one, they tried. Now, I was like you know what. You could feel a little chippiness that they had tried to do it. I said now it is probably time to take the knee,” Neuheisel said. “Eli Drinkwitz is filing that away. Josh Heupel has been on the other side. It is a fraternity. We all get along. But it has been filed. We will see if that ever comes back to haunt him.”

Heupel was asked about the final touchdown, and if he considered taking a knee, during his weekly press conference on Monday.

“For us at the end of the day, our twos (second team) were in the football game when the ball went down to the 1-yard line or whatever it was,” Heupel said. “Absolutely (taking a knee) went through my mind. Don’t know what the right thing to do is in that moment. At the end of the day, (I) let our guys continue to play football.”

Neuheisel, after Milton’s long touchdown pass to Keyton, said on the broadcast that Tennessee’s offensive identity doesn’t allow an ability to slow down.

“There’s no downshifting, you know?” Neuheisel said during the game. “When you’re in this kind of offense, you’re committed to this kind of offense. It isn’t like you’re trying to run up the score. There’s no ability to downshift. If I was to say a negative, when it’s a one-score lead or something like that, then you’d like to be able to get four-minute (offense) and bleed clock. In this offense, you keep full throttle.”

Vols scored 14 points over final two possessions in 66-24 win

On the next drive, Milton threw the 58-yard completion White to the 1-yard line. The Vols ran Sampson on the next play, but he was stopped for no gain.

“They really could just take a knee right here,” play-by-play man Tom McCarthy said after Sampson was stuffed.

“And they will, I’m guessing,” Neuheisel responded.

“You think this is just victory formation, right?” McCarthy asked when the Vols came back on the field after a timeout.

“I’m hoping so,” Neuheisel said.

“You’re always kind of twixt in between as a coach,” Neuheisel added, “because you have all these players on your sideline, that want a chance to play, want a chance to score, mom and dad in the stands. They didn’t come here to take a knee. But there’s also sportsmanship. And you’re going to play Missouri next year.”

Instead of the victory formation, it was another handoff to Sampson, who scored Tennessee’s ninth touchdown of the game. It gave the Vols 66 points, the most scored under second-year coach Josh Heupel, and 724 yards of total offense, a new program record.

“Everybody gets to mow their own lawn,” Neuheisel said. “But I would’ve liked to see them take a knee … right now, that’s a filing cabinet the back of Eli Drinkwitz’s brain. He’s filing that one away.”

Eli Drinkwitz: ‘It’s our job to defend what’ Tennessee does

Drinkwitz, who lost to Tennessee 62-24 in Columbia last year, said during his postgame press conference that he had no issues with what happened over Tennessee’s final two offensive possessions.

“He coaches his team,” Drinkwitz said of second-year Tennessee coach Josh Heupel during his postgame press conference, “I coach my team. It’s our job to defend what they do. He runs offense the way they’ve always run it.”

 “I’ve got no issues with their football team,” Drinkwitz continued after the game. “That’s up to each individual head coach. He was just running his offense. It’s our job to defend them, our job to stop them. It’s our job to flip the switch. Our job to not let that happen. It’s my job. It’s my job.”

Heupel was asked about the points scored late in Saturday’s game during his postgame press conference, too. Specifically, if he was trying to send a message to the College Football Playoff committee, as his Vols battle for one of the four spots in the playoff.

“The statement for us is that we’re a good football team playing good football,” Heupel said. “What the scoreboard ultimately ends up being, and what people down the line may judge us for, we’re out of control of some of those things.”

“Our best football is still out in front of us,” Heupel added. “I am proud of the fight, the competition, the ability to reset. The second half, the way our guys went out and competed in all three phases, it was a good win.”