Josh Heupel: Jeremy Banks 'just wasn't available' for Tennessee at South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Josh Heupel didn’t have an answer for the absence of redshirt senior linebacker Jeremy Banks in No. 5 Tennessee’s 63-38 loss at South Carolina Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“Just wasn’t available for this one,” Heupel said during his postgame press conference. “Anticipating and hopeful for next week.”
Banks did not travel with the Vols for the game.
Tennessee (9-2, 5-2 SEC), having seen its College Football Playoff hopes disappear in the loss, closes the regular-season schedule at Vanderbilt (5-6, 2-5) on Saturday night at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on SEC Network.
Tennessee’s short-handed defense had no answer for South Carolina and quarterback Spencer Rattler. The Gamecocks had 606 total yards while putting 63 points on the board. Rattler completed 30 of 37 passes for 438 yards and six touchdowns, after entering the game with just eight passing touchdowns on the season.
South Carolina ran 38 times for 153 yards and three more touchdowns on the ground.
Vols’ defense ‘did not play as well as we’re capable of’
Tennessee had nine tackles for loss but just one sack on Rattler and only two quarterback hits.
“I mean, we’ll go back and look at the linebacker play,” Heupel said when asked about the impact of Banks’ absence on the defense. “But obviously, structurally, defensively, we did not play as well as we’re capable of tonight.”
Banks had played in all 10 games this season before his absence Saturday night, with 46 total tackles — 29 solo, 17 assists — to go with 4.0 tackles for loss a forced fumble and fumble recovery. He has eight quarterback hits.
Banks is second for the Vols in tackles, trailing only Trevon Flowers, who has 53 tackles this season.
“Just everybody on the team, we’ve got to respond,” Tennessee offensive lineman Jerome Carvin said. “Simple as that. (Banks is) going to make a lot of plays for us. He’s going to be a very good player for us. We’re going to need him. He’s going to play well for us.”
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The Vols entered the game as a three-touchdown favorite but found themselves down 18 points late in the second quarter.
Tennessee got the deficit down to 35-31 with 9:53 left in the third quarter, but couldn’t get enough stops to get any closer.
Up Next: Tennessee at Vanderbilt, 7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, SEC Network
After the regular-season finale, the Vols could still end up in a New Year’s Six bowl game, depending on the outcome of the week’s final games and the final College Football Playoff rankings.
The Vols entered the week at No. 5 in the CFP Top 25.
“For us, and this program, this one needs to hurt on the way back,” Heupel said. “It needs to hurt for guys that aren’t on this trip, that will be in our building tomorrow afternoon and will be there on Monday.
“For us to grow as a program, you’ve got to look at this opportunity and understand what happened. Let it hurt. And remember that as you move forward. Let it help you grow.”
