How Nico Iamaleava critiqued his nearly flawless start for Tennessee in 69-3 win over Chattanooga
Josh Heupel paused for a beat. The Tennessee Football coach was looking for the right answer during his postgame press conference after the Vols ripped through Chattanooga in a 69-3 win to open the season Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium.
Did he see any flaws in redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaeava, who played what looked like a flawless game?
“Your perspective might be a little bit different than mine,” Heupel said.
All Iamaleava did was complete 22 of 28 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns. All he did was set a new Tennessee record for passing yards in a half before becoming a spectator in the second half, after the Vols led 45-0 at halftime.
All he did was start 10-for-10 for 189 yards and two touchdowns before throwing his first incompletion late in the second quarter.
“He’s a young player,” Heupel said. “Came out, played really efficiently, effectively, made plays down the field. There’s some things that he can control and be better and he knows that and he wants that too.”
‘I think that was the main thing for me, not falling asleep during while we’re up big’
Iamaleava competed another five straight passes after his first incompletion, making him 15-for-16 before throwing his second incomplete pass. From there he was 7-for-12 and not all that happy with how he finished his day.
“I thought I didn’t finish the second quarter well,” Iamaleava said. “I can finish better with just operating the offense at a high level. And really I think that was the main thing for me, not falling asleep during while we’re up big. Still going out there and operating the offense at a high level.”
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It wasn’t just Iamaleava. It was Tennessee’s offense as a whole, even in a 66-point win.
“Did some really good things early,” Heupel said after his team built a 38-0 lead in the first 20 minutes. “Got to learn how to stay dialed in and finish a half, a quarter of the football game.”
Up Next: No. 15 Tennessee vs. No. 24 N.C. State, Saturday, 7:45 p.m. ET, ABC
Heupel was also asked what his team can learn from a game that was that lopsided. There was no hesitation in that reply.
“Adverse on the scoreboard, no,” he said, “but there’s a lot of things that we’ll be able to learn from the course of this football game.”
Iamaleava was already on the same page immediately after the game.
He was asked the same question. How valuable can that kind of game be moving forward? What’s the lesson?
“Shoot, to keep our foot on their throat when we go up big,” Iamaleava said. “I think still coming to the sideline with the same mindset that (the score is) 0-0 and just carrying that out (for) the full game, full four quarters, like Coach Heup says.”
