Josh Heupel not putting stock in 2021 win over South Carolina

Josh Heupel isn’t allowing Tennessee’s beatdown of South Carolina last season bleed into their vision for this weekend’s matchup.

In Knoxville during the 2021 season, Heupel and company handed Shane Beamer’s Gamecocks a 45-20 loss. Hendon Hooker tossed three touchdowns, while Luke Doty of South Carolina didn’t throw one.

Of course, teams have changed and the situation is much different than it was this time last season, and Heupel made sure to point that out during his press conference this week.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“One play doesn’t have anything to do with the next play in the game, last week doesn’t have anything to do with it, one of the things that I think has been good about our players is their ability to reset and continue to compete, no matter what’s happened,” stated Heupel. “Last year has absolutely — it’s two different football teams.”

Tennessee has shown the ability to treat every game like a new season each Saturday, and this weekend should be no different. The Volunteers may defeat the Gamecocks, but last season will have zip to do with it.

Josh Heupel says Cedric Tillman, Omari Thomas statuses will be decided on Saturday

Tennessee wideout Cedric Tillman hasn’t had the 2022 he hoped, and it’s not his fault. Tillman was one of the top pass catchers for Hendon Hooker last season but has struggled with injuries all fall and has barely gotten to flash his incredible talent on this great Volunteer team since he was injured. It’s a real shame. 

But the season is far from over and the Vols could absolutely use his talents, even if limited, as they try to close out the regular season and potentially contend in the College Football Playoff. So could Tillman return to the field this week after being absent from the lineup since the Georgia game? 

Maybe. Maybe not. That was the gist of the update on Tillman from head coach Josh Heupel at this week’s press conference. He was asked about Tillman and defensive lineman Omari Thomas, who has also missed some time, and gave this non-update update:

“No I mean those guys have been been with us all week. So we’ll find out on on game day or really tomorrow I’ll have a better idea. But some of it’s game day obviously.”

Tillman has seemingly been a game time decision for most of the year and will be again on Saturday. Meanwhile Thomas suffered an upper body injury in the Missouri win but returned to the game before it ended. He’s working to get back on the field again but is not certain to play on Saturday. 

Tennessee faces South Carolina on the road Saturday night in their penultimate regular season game, with kickoff slated for 7 o’clock. Not the most difficult game on the schedule but certainly no cake walk for Josh Heupel’s group. And you can definitely expect another Cedric Tillman update or two before kickoff. Hoping for another appearance by the senior wideout.

On3’s Alex Weber contributed to this article.