Josh Heupel responds to question on intensity, focus of his team following loss to South Carolina

Josh Heupel may have watched as his team saw their College Football Playoff hopes slipway, but the Tennessee leader never questioned his team’s intensity.

Following the demoralizing loss on Saturday to South Carolina, Heupel responded to questions regarding his team’s focus against the Gamecocks, and whether everything was in the right place for the Volunteers.

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“I didn’t feel that,” Heupel responded, asked if his team’s intensity started to slip a little bit over the course of the game. “Maybe a little bit at the very end, on both sides of it, when I guess probably the reality of the situation, the number of scores and the time left on the scoreboard after the fumble, you know. One of the things that’s allowed us to play good football at times, whether it started fast or not during the course of the season, guys have been calmed and responded the right way.

“I didn’t question their want-to tonight, and obviously we didn’t put it together, between defensively and offensively. Opportunities in the second half to pull and tighten it, and they respond and we don’t go and get seven, and the third quarter kind of slipped away.”

Regardless of Tennessee’s intensity, it’s always going to be near impossible to find victory when you allow 63 points to your opponent. While the Volunteers may not find themselves in the College Football Playoff, they’ve still enjoyed an incredible ride through 2022, and there’s a lot to build on for Josh Heupel and company.

Josh Heupel sends strong message to team following missed opportunity vs. South Carolina

Continuing, it’s safe to say that nobody anticipated Tennessee losing the way they did this weekend, as they got a taste of their own medicine from South Carolina losing big to the Gamecocks 63-38.

The Volunteers struggled and South Carolina played their best offensive game of the season by far, and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel had a strong message to his team following their loss. 

“For us and this program, this one needs to hurt on the way back,” Heupel said. “And it needs to hurt the guys that aren’t on this trip that will be in our building tomorrow afternoon and be there on Monday.”

Heupel is notorious for his quick turnaround in Knoxville, transforming a team that was 3-7 in 2020 a year before his arrival to a College Football Playoff contender this season. The improvement of the Vols is definitely worth celebrating, as their loss is only their second of the season, but Heupel knows that if he wants to keep the standards high at Tennessee that this loss will have to be valued.

“For us to grow as a program, you’ve got to look at this opportunity and understand what happened and let it hurt, and remember that as you move forward and let it help you grow,” Heupel added.

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this article.