Four downs with Josh Heupel: Bama week begins

Tennessee squeaked by Florida 23-17 in overtime on Saturday night, and as a reward, the Vols were dropped a few spots in both polls. Saturday’s visit from Alabama will provide ample opportunity for Josh Heupel’s team to change opinions.

Tennessee was ranked as high as No. 4 just a couple of weeks ago, but a sputtering offense and a road loss at Arkansas has taken some of the early season shine off of the Vols from the perspective of the national media (and fans).

The Vols’ offense put up huge numbers in the first few weeks of the season, but the going has been significantly tougher against SEC defenses.

In three SEC games the Vols are averaging just 23.67 points per contest and they’ve been shut out in the first half of the last two games.

Clearly, fixes need to be made, and Josh Heupel doesn’t think his offense is that far off from starting to click.

The head coach’s main takeaway seemed to be that it wasn’t just one aspect of the offense where Tennessee is coming up short, just a matter of consistently taking care of details.

“Certainly there are big plays out there that we’re a little bit off on. But even just the run (game) and some of our pass game that’s not vertically down the football field, we’re close on things,” Heupel said of what he’s seeing of the offensive struggles.

“Eleven have guys got to fully operate as one. And the good thing is we have guys that can do it. We have guys that have already done it before.

“We got to prepare the right way, practice really well and take some steps. But we’re fully capable of being more efficient than we were.”

Obviously, when the offense is struggling the quarterback play is going to be analyzed under the microscope.

Nico Iamaleava has had an up-and-down ascension to his role as Tennessee’s full-time starting quarterback since SEC play began.

He’s completed 60.5% of his throws for 521 yards in three conference games with one touchdown and one interception. He also lost a fumble against Florida.

Iamaleava has definitely flashed his talent in SEC competition, but fairly or not, the production has not met the (extremely high) expectations.

“Nico’s played well. He hasn’t played his best football the last couple of weeks,” Heupel said.

“Let’s go prepare and practice and go play the next game, the next play with an aggressive mentality. And there’s a lot of things that he did well in the football game too, so he’s got to continue to grow.”

Given the expectations that Iamaleava entered the season under as the No. 1 overall recruiting in the nation two cycles ago, it’s fair to wonder if he hasn’t started to press a bit in light of some of the struggles in the passing game.

Heupel is well aware of those expectations, as well as the unique burdens that come with playing the quarterback position. Given his own experiences and his interactions with Iamaleava, Heupel doesn’t feel like his player is putting too much pressure on himself.

“I don’t have concerns about him pressing. He’s prideful. It matters to him. He wants to perform well not for himself, but for the guys around him,” Heupel said of where he sees Iamaleava’s mindset.

“When you play quarterback, it’s not gonna be perfect. Everybody wants it to be. It wasn’t for Hendon Hooker, or any of the guys that we’ve had. Being resilient, coming back and playing with great confidence, which he will and poise will lead you to the plays they’re going to present themselves.”

HANDING OUT HARDWARE

Tennessee had two players receive weekly honors from the Southeastern Conference.

Junior defensive end James Pearce was named the C0-SEC Defensive lineman of the week. His teammate Boo Carter got the nod as the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week.

Pearce had his best game of the season (to that point) at Arkansas when he recorded nine tackles and 1.5 sacks.

He followed that up with seven tackles, 0.5 sacks, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

His strip sack and recovery of Florida’s Graham Mertz on 1st & goal from inside the Tennessee one in the second quarter was arguably the play of the game.

Pearce hadn’t really notched any stats through the first four weeks of the season, but he’s blown up in the last two.

Heupel said it’s just a matter of circumstances.

“I wouldn’t say there’s anything different in his effort or strain,” Heupel said of Pearce. “There’s been a few more times where he has had an opportunity to make the play, and he’s made the play, but he’s played really well all year long.

“He made a couple of huge plays in the game the other night. Things that you don’t take for granted but expect him to make and he’s played really well. So, within the structure of what we’re doing, assignment sound, playing at a really high level.”

Carter was tied for the team lead with seven tackles including a sack, 1.5 TFLs and another quarterback hurry.

IT JUST MEANS MORE IN….SOUTH DAKOTA?

This will be the first time that Tennessee and Alabama will face off against each there with two head coaches hailing from South Dakota.

Heupel and Alabama’s Kaleb DeBoer took some circuitous routes to get to their current stations, but the two have known each other for years.

DeBoer reached out to Heupel while the former was the offensive coordinator at the University of Sioux Falls (his alma mater) and Heupel was on the staff at Oklahoma.

“Not a lot of us from us from South Dakota,” Heupel said. “But anyways, knew of him when I was younger. And through his coaching career, he was just somebody that I stayed in contact with at times.

“Got great respect for him and what he’s done throughout his career and how he handles himself.”

DeBoer’s debut season in Tuscaloosa is off to a bumpy start after a loss to Vanderbilt, but the Tide are still a formidable foe and this is still a monumental match-up.

It’s not quite as monumental as it looked like it might be two weeks ago before Tennessee lost at Arkansas and Alabama was upended by the Commodores though.

It’s also a game that will have a much different feel without Nick Saban’s anywhere from ‘stoic-to-complete bedlam’ sideline demeanor won’t be involved.

The magnitude of the rivalry hasn’t changed for either fan base without the Hall of Fame Coach around, and it hasn’t changed for Heupel either.

“This rivalry has been around a long time before Nick Saban was a part of it or I was a part of it. The magnitude of this rivalry is the historical nature and  what it’s meant inside of this league a lot,” Heupel said on that topic.

MANAGING MILROE

Alabama has been a bit of a feast-or-famine team this season.

They looked like the best team in the country in the first half of their win over Georgia, then had to hang on for dear life before winning in thrilling fashion.

They followed that up with the head scratching loss to Vanderbilt, then jumped on top of South Carolina by two touchdowns right out of the gate last week before letting the Gamecocks back in it before surviving a last minute scare.

The Crimson Tide’s performance has been erratic, but the threat that Jalen Milroe might do something to wreck your defensive game plan is a constant.

Milroe may not be the most consistent player in college football, but he is one of the most dynamic. He’s electric as a runner, and when he gets in a groove as a passer he can be dynamic in that area as well.

He leads the SEC in total touchdowns with 23 (11 rushing, 12 passing)

“He has been extremely accurate with the football. Been a pretty sound decision maker,” Heupel said of the Alabama signal caller. “You have to be mindful not letting him escape.

“His athleticism when he does escape is special. You put all those pieces together, you got to do a great job of having rush integrity, getting off a block, making a play when he tucks it.”