Josh Heupel addresses Tennessee's defensive issues in South Carolina game

Tennessee will be looking to put last weekend behind them and bounce back as they take on Vanderbilt this Saturday. The Volunteers are fresh off of a huge upset loss to South Carolina, which was highlighted by poor defensive play, allowing 63 points in a 63-38 loss to the Gamecocks. Head coach Josh Heupel had one word to describe their recent outing, that rang true amongst him and his players.

“Disappointed, the players are too, and it’s a prideful group that’s played well at times,” Heupel said. “Obviously, this was not a good performance.”

Tennessee’s defense let the game Gamecocks get going early and often, giving up 21 points in the first quarter in a ball game where South Carolina maintained the lead for the entire contest. Heupel spoke more on what specifically went wrong for the Vol’s defense in a game where it seemed like nothing was clicking on that side of the ball.

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“More missed assignments, we didn’t tackle well, some things we control, and obviously they played well too. Disappointed in those things, we didn’t defeat blocks, that’s up front, that’s out on the perimeter,” Heupel said.

The Vols gave up 606 yards of total offense, many of which were behind South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler, who had a career day against Tennessee throwing for 438 yards and six touchdown passes, as he was able to deliver the ball to over 10 different targets that all made the most of their touches.

“We didn’t make plays in space and those are things at the end of the day that you have to do. We gotta learn from it, grow from it, and be better,” Heupel said.

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.

“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.