What Josh Heupel said after No. 21 Tennessee beat New Mexico State 42-9

Everything Josh Heupel said after No. 21 Tennessee beat New Mexico State 42-9 Saturday on Homecoming Weekend at Neyland Stadium:

Opening Statement

“Good evening. Love to win. I thought defensively we played well in the first half getting off the field. Did a good job at the line of scrimmage handling some of the perimeter screen game really well. Offensively, a little bit up and down in the first half. Execution, really the turnovers hurt. And I thought defensively they did a good job responding to those. And then offensively getting points off the turnover and obviously Will Wright, big play in the second half too. So still a lot of things to clean up here. Get back to SEC play next week and go on the road, so get ready to go.”

If the lack of execution can be attributed to Tennessee coming off the bye week or playing a non conference opponent 

“I don’t know that I would attribute it directly to that. During the week, I thought there was a day where offensively we weren’t on edge at practice. And it’s a fine line. When you get to game day it doesn’t just happen. So I said that to them in the locker room too. At the same time, it’s not necessarily going to be perfect. And you have expectations going into the game, but it’s 11 on 11.”

Why Boo Carter wasn’t available, if he was at Neyland Stadium for the game

“At the end of the day, there’s a standard that you have to meet to be in that locker room. He was not out on the field with us. That will be the last— my last response to anything related to that for right now.”

What was working well for Tennessee in the run game

“Ultimately, some of those drives got down there. We bust one, great balance and running through some trash. Joey pulls it on a short-yardage play. They don’t have contain off of that pressure. Good job reading it by him. So some good execution down in the tight zone and down there. You got to be able to run the football.”

If there are any updates on Miles Kitselman, Wendell Moe or other Tennessee players who appeared to get banged up in the win 

“Yeah, we don’t have an update on those guys. They’ll get evaluated tomorrow like everybody.” 

How he has seen Tennessee freshman quarterback George Macintyre progress this season

“Yeah, limited time just the way the fourth quarter unfolded. George has continued to get better in the reps that he gets during practice. The bye week, obviously a heavier load than probably a normal game week. I thought he went out there and handled himself well. Throws the boot play and picks up yards and then the one third down, just we’re getting beat up a little bit in man press. But all in all he’s continued to grow.” 

What he saw on Joey Aguilar’s two interceptions

“The one (to Miles Kitselman) is intermediate concept. Ball is a little bit inside. We got to go close out and finish on the play, too. And he’s moving in the pocket on the second one. He saw the post player, was actually trying to throw the over. (His) body may not have been in a great position and he gets hit a little bit on the play and the ball just sails on him, two plays that we have to go execute and can’t be turnovers.” 

What he’s seen from Jadon Perlotte

“See ball, hit ball, go get it. Yeah, he’s pretty good at that. Fast, destructive, violent, physical, and has got great explosive power. Does a good job in his pressures, obviously, the 15-yarder (penalty), on the I think it was third-and-20 from the 20— you can’t get 15 on that, but, he’s a young player that continues to grow.”

How Ty Redmond has handled playing a lot as a freshman in the SEC

“Life in the SEC, you’re playing against really good competition. When you’re young, you know they’re going to try you. And there’s been some ups and downs for him like there is for every player during the course of a schedule. I like his resiliency, how he competes on the practice field, continued growth and he’s going to be a great player.”

What Daune Morris has done to earn punt returning reps

“He’s just been really consistent here. We had him in there early in the year, game one, he got some opportunities. As a young player, just understanding how the game gets played and the nuances of it. He’s just continued to grow in his ability to communicate, understand when he’s got space. So we’ve been continuing to grow him in that role.”

If any injured players would have played it if was a SEC game

“Yeah, I think a majority of those guys probably would have been able to go.”

If he used this game as an opportunity to try any new with concepts

“Like defensively, certain positions in particular (we) played a lot of young guys today. Defensively from them, they’re kind of a defense of the day every week. They’re very multiple in what they do. So early in the football game figuring out who and what they were going to be and trying to adjust to it.”

What led to Tennessee defensive linemen getting pass breakups at the line of scrimmage

“I thought early in the football game, I thought they would do it, but a lot of RPOs. Perimeter screen game, get the ball out quick. As the game went on, you were able to get into some third-and-long situations, second-and-long, the ability for those guys to rush the passer and win at the line of scrimmage and affect the quarterback. I thought his game went on, we did a better job of that. And in part, just because we had more opportunity to.”

DaSaahn Brame’s versatility helping them down the stretch

“DaSaahn’s continued to grow. A guy that missed all of spring ball and as he’s come back, learned how to play in the core, extremely gifted out of space, natural.  You saw him out there some tonight but certainly has an opportunity to help us on the stretch and we’ve been planning and working towards that.”

Daevin Hobbs offseason before getting hurt in fall camp, missing him early in the year

“He’s encountered a couple of injuries before this fall and I don’t want to say that that’s necessarily stunted his growth, but he’s missed a bunch of time. I thought he had an elite off season and was playing really good football during the course of training camp. Him being hurt, Jaxson Moi being hurt early in the year certainly hurt us defensively. And then you throw in the corners, there’s a lot of pieces of the puzzle that weren’t there, getting him back, getting him fully integrated, healthy is a huge part, a huge help to us defensively.”

His assessment of the run game

“I thought in the third quarter, just structurally, how they were playing things that was something that we were pointing to. I thought we went out and executed those scenarios, those opportunities pretty well in the second half.”