Josh Heupel on his sideline celebration: 'I'm still a kid at heart. You have to enjoy it.'
Miles Kitselman lined up on the left side of the offensive line against North Carolina State Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Tennessee Football’s tight end paused, looking like he was staying in to block, before slipping behind the defense unnoticed.
Nico Iamaleava didn’t miss him, though. The redshirt freshman quarterback lofted a perfect pass to the wide-open Kitselman, who pointed to the stands after catching his first touchdown pass before celebrating with his teammates.
Josh Heupel watched the play from the sideline, saw the 15-yard touchdown pass executed perfectly, and walked out on the field to celebrate with multiple fist pumps in a rare show of on-field emotion from the head coach.
“I am still a kid at heart,” Heupel said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “You have got to enjoy it.”
Josh Heupel: ‘If you are not going to enjoy the opportunities that you get … I think you are missing the boat’
There was plenty to enjoy in the Duke’s Mayo Classic.
Iamaleava combined for 276 total yards and three touchdowns and Tennessee (2-0) finished with 249 rushing yards. The defense suffocated NC State for 60 minutes, holding the Wolfpack 143 total yards while recording three sacks, 13 tackles for loss and forcing three turnovers.
“This game is hard,” Heupel said, “they got good coaches and scholarships, too. Every Saturday you look at scores across America and every Saturday it unfolds differently.
“That is why you have got to prepare and practice the same way and be consistent in that and be an elite competitor everyday not just on game day. We talked about that inside of our team room (on Monday).”
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Notre Dame, ranked No. 5 after its win at Texas A&M in Week 1, lost 16-14 at home to Northern Illinois as a 28-point favorite. Oklahoma, now ranked No. 16 and set to host Tennessee next week, beat Houston 16-12 and scored just two points after halftime. Houston lost 27-7 at UNLV in Week 1.
Up Next: No. 7 Tennessee vs. Kent State, Saturday, 7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Tennessee, on the other hand, is averaging 60.0 points per game after beating Chattanooga 69-3 in the season opener at Neyland Stadium, followed by the 51-10 beatdown of NC State.
The Vols on Sunday vaulted into the top 10 in the rankings, up to No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 9 in the Coaches Poll.
Heupel is having fun through the first two weeks of the new season. And he’s not afraid to show it.
“Man, if you are not going to enjoy the opportunities that you get,” he said, “and if you are successful, then I think you are missing the boat. We try to have fun inside of our building, after a game or in the locker room but it’s also every day.
“We should be enjoying what we are doing and who we are doing with and we do inside this building.”
