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

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.

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“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 said.

Tennessee’s recent loss will definitely be a hard one for the Vols to forget, as the team that’s scored 60-plus points twice this season had the tables turned on them giving up 63 points to the Gamecocks, the most they’ve scored since a 72-point scoring outing against Charleston Southern in 2019.

The Vols found themselves in a shootout and a close contest, as a 41-yard touchdown pass from Hendon Hooker to Princeton Fant brought them four points within the lead setting the score at 35-31. But then the Gamecocks would go on to score 28 straight points that would propel them to a dominant home victory in Columbia.

Unfortunately for Tennessee, they also lost star quarterback Hendon Hooker in this game who suffered a torn ACL in the second half. Hooker was the unquestioned leader and catalyst of the nation’s top offense this season for the Vols, as they will have to close out the season without him. The Vols take on in-state rival Vanderbilt this weekend, who have been making history recently after pulling off their second straight SEC victory this weekend for the first time since 2018.