Tennessee HC Josh Heupel praises offense following Kentucky win

Following the Alabama loss, Tennessee desperately needed to get back on track. The task was not going to be easy against Kentucky, walking into a hostile environment in Lexington. Although the game went into the fourth quarter, Josh Heupel will head back to Knoxville with an impressive win.

Following the game, Heupel spoke about the offensive performance, specifically the run game. It was another great night for the group, carrying the team at times. Running back Jaylen Wright wound up with 120 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown.

“Deep room,” Heupel said about his running back room. “Got some young guys that are really good. They’re smart, competitive, they run really hard. They’re doing a great job of reading what’s going on upfront. Five bigs were great tonight, tight ends were awesome. And the passing game was good enough. It was a great win.”

Joe Milton had an efficient day, completing 17 of 20 passes. He threw for 230 yards and a touchdown. Most importantly, he did not throw an interception. Milton let the Tennessee offense do what it needed to do — running the ball for most of the night.

Heupel then gave a broader analysis of his team, once again mentioning how tough winning on the road in the SEC is. Tennessee had won in Lexington just once since the 2015 season when Butch Jones was in control of the program.

“I love the effort and energy we played with,” Heupel said during his postgame interview with ESPN. “At the end of the day, winning on the road in this league is really tough. That’s a good football team we played tonight. Proud of the effort from our guys. We got to play smarter as we continue to go. Got to be better in the red zone offensively. We take it as a good win in the league.”

With the win on Saturday night, Tennessee keeps their SEC loss total at two. Of course, the goal was to make the SEC Championship in Atlanta, and technically, the dream is still alive. There are still a few big games remaining on the schedule, mainly Georgia in the penultimate week of the regular season.

For now, Heupel is going to enjoy getting a win on the road against Kentucky. Tennessee will have a nonconference game against UConn next up before hitting the final stretch of the season, closing against three straight SEC opponents.