Everything Josh Heupel said about Florida-Tennessee on Monday

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with reporters for his weekly press conference on Monday, looking back at his team’s 30-13 win over Austin Peay and looking ahead to the No. 11 Vols playing at Florida on Saturday night:

Opening Statement:

Heupel: “To all the people that serve, sacrifice their lives, their health in a lot of ways, too. And obviously a day that this country won’t forget. So looking forward to going, playing a really good football team here, a great opportunity. You come to Tennessee because you want to play in these types of games, these types of environments. On prime time Saturday night, great challenge in front of us. Really good football team. (Florida is) big, strong, athletic on both sides of the line. Of scrimmage. Skill players on both sides are really good. Great speed and will be huge steps for us.”

How this Tennessee team responded on Sunday after a sluggish win Saturday over Austin Peay:

Heupel: “Got really good energy out on the grass with them today, but really good in the meeting room too. Anticipated that from these guys. We’ve got strong leadership. Guys care about their performance, but they care how they get there too. I said it after the game too. I didn’t feel like we did prepare the right way. At the end of the day, we were on the right side of the competitive edge to go play the way that we’re capable of. That being said, there’s a lot of things that went that we did really well too during the course of the game. I thought the effort, strain energy, technique on special teams was really good. Defensively, played really sound (for) a majority of the football game. Gap assignments, a lot of couple big runs really in the football game. But other than, really good offensively. We ran it for dang near eight yards per carry and had some efficiency in the pass game too. Penalties in the red zone in particular, dropped balls, hit a couple more passes (and it will) lead to a different score. And certainly one that we all want. But those are all things that we control in it. That was a big point of emphasis today with our guys, control the controllable, which is what sits in that room and how we prepare.”

If there can be a good time to have a game like the one Tennessee had against Austin Peay:

Heupel: “Absolutely. I mean, as much as anything, the competitive edge that you have to be on the right side of it is extremely important. And the difference between success and failure in this game is really small. So, it wasn’t all 11 all at one time. We can be better, need to be better. These guys care. They got a great care factor. So, we’ll have great week of practice.”

Tennessee not winning at Florida since 2003 and what he remembers about the 2021 game in Gainesville:

Heupel: “First of all, they’re always really athletic. They’re physical at the line of scrimmage. It’s a great environment at the end of the day in this game. And yesterday has nothing to do with today. The previous game, our previous play has nothing to do with what’s gonna happen on the next play. It’s about preparing the right way, practicing the right way that will lead to you playing the right way.”

What caused the issues in the Tennessee pass game early against Austin Peay:

Heupel: “End of the day we got, we gotta go make some plays. That’s throwing it a little bit better. That’s catching it a little bit better. There’s big chunks of yardage in open grass to go make (plays). Joe would tell you he’s gotta hit a couple of those (throws). We gotta make a play out in the perimeter. Some subtle things fundamentally that can help you be more accurate with the ball. But we’ve seen them operate in that. We just didn’t execute it very well early in the football game.”

What he saw from Elijah Herring with Keenan Pili out and the play of Tennessee’s linebackers:

Heupel: “Destructive. Communicated at a high level. He’s the young guy that his best football is gonna continue to come down the pipe. Great confidence in him. From the rest of the guys that played too, saw a lot of things that we liked. There’s a couple of things that we busted on too. Gave up a pass over the middle in the fourth quarter. But we can correct those things. And at the end of the day, that group is going to have to continue to grow up quickly. We’re gonna need all those guys as we go down the stretch.”

What Tennessee has to do to be more efficient on third down:

Heupel: “Not just one thing. We gotta be better at calling it, blocking it, executing the pass game. But we’re capable of it. We gotta be better. That will be big in this football game too. You gotta convert, you gotta stay on the field. You gotta give yourself to the next set of downs.”

If Cooper Mays will be available for Tennessee this week:

Heupel: “Yeah, he was with us last week. Warmed up with us (before the Austin Peay game). We made a decision pretty early in the week that he probably would not play in that football game. And, anticipate him having a good week of practice here, getting ready.”

If he had seen anything in Tennessee’s practices with missed throws or dropped passes leading up to the Austin Peay game:

Heupel: “We didn’t anticipate that happening.”

The potential of Cooper Mays returning at Florida without having gone through much contact work in fall camp:

Heupel: “If he’s playing, we have great confidence that he’s gonna play at the level that he wants to and we need him to, too.”

What he’s seen from Florida’s skill players:

Heupel: “They’ve got great team speed, got, athletes that can go make plays in space. You gotta bottle bottle up the run game. That’s a huge part of what they do and that sets up their play-action pass. A year ago, they hurt us with some of that. We gotta be able to fit the run and then play assignment sound and play the ball well when it’s in the air.”

Settling in earlier in games and the difficulty doing so on the road in the SEC:

Heupel: “You’re not gonna completely tune out the noise, but once you get the play call, you’re focusing on your job. It’s 11 guys inside of the white line. I don’t care if it’s at home, on the road, in the backyard. These guys have been doing it for a long time. You do have to control your emotions, right? You have to be able to execute and play from within yourself. That’ll be a big part of the football game.”

Tight ends Jacob Warren and McCallan Castles both catching a touchdown pass through the first two games:

Heupel: “Rewarded two guys that do it right every single day. Both have the ability to make plays and great to see those guys get an opportunity and then go execute here early in the football season. Those guys are a huge part of what we do in the pass game and in the run game. Anticipate those guys continuing to having big usage.”

Tennessee rush defense against Florida’s run game:

Heupel: “We’ve done a good job of destructing blocks at the line of scrimmage. Second and third levels have fit it right. And at the end of the day, we’ve changed the line of scrimmage here the first couple of weeks. And this will be the best offensive line that we’ve seen. They’re big, strong, they’re athletic and look like a typical Florida offense.”

How Joe Milton III handles bad plays and being able to put them behind him:

Heupel: “Well, at the end of the day, you have to point out what needs to be corrected. You gotta be truthful and what you’re seeing as a coach and and players understand that too. They see it, they recognize, he understands the game. Great thing about Joe is they’ve really been making really sound decisions that that’s in our run-pass option, it’s in our drop back. We as skilled players — that can be wide outs, tight ends, running backs and (Milton) — it’s gotta be a little bit better at times. So (I) plan on us executing better in this game.”