Watch: Josh Heupel looks back at Tennessee's loss at Alabama during Monday press conference

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel met with reporters Monday for his weekly press conference, looking back at the Vols’ 34-20 loss at Alabama and previewing the game at Kentucky Saturday night at Kroger Field in Lexington:

Opening Statement

“As I said, after the ball game, obviously, disappointed for our program, not coming away with the win down in Alabama, the result of the game, said it to the players after the game, said it today. Proud of the preparation, of practice and how we started the game. At the end of the day, a program from me to the players, we all gotta be a little bit better in the second half and, and gotta do that quickly. As we move on, I sense the player disappointment this morning, at the same time when we walked out of the team meeting room, I gotta cut it clean and gotta take the lessons moving forward, but we gotta go.

“Playing a really good Kentucky team that has had two weeks of preparation coming off of an extremely physical football team on both sides of the line of scrimmage offensively. You look at their ability to rush the football, their efficiency in the play-action pass, it’s huge challenge for us defensively. Offensively, they’re extremely good against the run and extremely physical up front. So it will be a huge test. And special teams will be a big part of it too.”

How much the Tennessee staff relies on analytics and why the Vols have struggled in short-yardage situations

“(Analytics) is a portion of the process, but not the end all be all. Hasn’t been in the time that we’ve had analytics as being a part of it. And the answer, at the end of the day, coaches and players gotta be better in those situations. And we gotta go pick up the first down. So two critical fourth downs that we don’t pick up.”

How Tennessee will try to slow down Kentucky running back Ray Davis

“Well you gotta stop them early at the line of scrimmage. But their offensive line, their tight ends, they’re extremely physical. They do a really good job getting a hat on a hat. We gotta be violent, we gotta be disruptive. You gotta have gap integrity between all their different personnel groupings, their shifts, their emotions. Gotta do a great job communicating and being gapped out. At the end of the day when you meet the ball carrier, you gotta do a great job of tackling too. (Davis is) extremely physical.” 

What lesson this Tennessee team has to learn from the Florida and Alabama losses

“We gotta start faster in the second half in both of those ball games. The Florida one, obviously, was the first half. There was a lot of really good things on the video in the second half too. At the end of the day, offense, defense, special teams, you gotta operate 11 as one. And we didn’t do that at a high enough level. I liked the way we prepared. I like the way that we practice. You gotta be on the right side of it when we get to game day.”

If they have considered going under center for quarterback sneaks on fourth-and-1

“At the end of the day, we gotta find a way to pick up the first down. We’ve used a lot of different formations. We’ve been under center, been in gun, we’ve used it all. So we gotta find a way to pick it up in those two critical situations.”

Tennessee’s lack of production in the deep and intermediate passing game, after having so much success in those areas last season

“We gotta be better in all phases. It can be protection, it can be routes. It can be winning, it can bringing it, it can be Joe putting it on target. We gotta catch the ball. So it’s a little bit of everything. I thought we took some steps at times in our passing game last week. We gotta continue to improve here as we go.”

Why he said after the Alabama loss that he would go to war with this Tennessee football team

“First of all, they invest the right way. They prepare the right way. They’re willing to go lay it out on the line. Everybody in the program’s disappointed with the result. But you can’t be strictly results driven. I know that’s how everybody views the game. I get that, we do too. But these guys continue to compete and play extremely hard, so we gotta grow. We gotta make up the difference and be on the right side of it for sure. But this group’s willing to to invest, compete and go play.”

What went wrong in Tennessee’s run game against Alabama

“You give them some credit too, they did a good job destructing blocks and making plays, being physical at the point, making tackles in space. We weren’t always on the right side of it and that’s at running back, it’s, the front five, it’s tight ends. We needed to be a little bit cleaner in that one. But also knowing the type of opponent that we were playing, too. But we can be better. Normal downs and situationally, too.”

If Tennessee coaches got more explanation on the fair catch on the kick off early in the second half

“Letter of the law, anybody puts their hand up above the shoulder that would signify a fair catch. We had a frontline guy that put his pointer finger up slightly above the shoulder.”

If he’s coached to do that on sky kicks

“No, he’s not coached to do that. No.”

What he liked and didn’t like about Joe Milton’s performance after watching the tape

“I thought he continued to compete, continued to fight throughout the course of the ball game. Really good decision making for a majority of the football game. Was accurate with football. I thought he made plays with his feet. Some of that was in quarterback run game, some design, some not. Some of it was him scrambling around making some plays. There were some positive signs.”

His Tennessee team being two bad quarters away from being 7-0

“Welcome to college football, right? You gotta be on the right side of it. You gotta find a way to, to make the plays that make the difference and  also understand that this game’s not gonna be perfect. We see really good players and coaches on the other side of it too. I talked about earlier just, you know, that I like this team because they invest, they prepare, they play hard. We gotta be a little bit sharper. In the first ball game (Florida), I didn’t think we reset. In this one, just some unique things happened and we didn’t get going on the right side of it. We got to cut it clean and we gotta move forward in this way too.”

Coaching young players to understand the small margins

“First of all, you talk about those things. You show them on the video how little, subtle things make a difference in how the game’s played. It’s a series of one plays that make the difference in the football game. That’s the way you gotta approach it, but it’s a series of plays so you gotta reset and refocus on the next one. And  we talked about not having to be perfect because I think that applies a lot of pressure to kids, where you can’t go out and just cut it loose and go play. But the fundamentals, how you invest, your preparation being on the right side of it. You gotta control the controllables in the process of getting ready to play.”

Kentucky’s defense

“A young corner that has been opportunistic. Made plays, when it’s been up in the air he’s gone up got it. Really nice job as a young player. Their front (is) big, strong, physical. They do a really good job of getting off the blocks, but their second level and third level fits are on point. So even if you block it clean inside the extra hats showing up quickly on you they’ve done a really good job of tackling that guy in space. We got to be extremely good up front. That’s the five guys. It’s the tight ends and we’re gonna have to run with a physical edge in this one.”

Tennessee having more designed runs for Joe Milton III, how that helps the spacing of the offense

“It can help the spacing, but you’re playing really good players. Every scheme’s a little bit different, how you can attack them and try and find an edge for your players. That’s why things change from week to week a little bit.”

How Tennessee freshman backup QB Nico Iamaleava has developed

“He’s done a good job. Continues to prepare the right way. Continuing to gain a deeper understanding of what we’re doing. And obviously week to week is seeing a lot of different defensive structures that he’s got continue to prepare for. So like what’s done.”

Tennessee QB Joe Milton balancing running and taking hits

“Yeah, everybody, the end of their runs are a little bit different. Ability to slide their comfort, dive, get down. Situationally too, the hidden yards in the game when needed. There’s times when he should probably get down, but, again, I liked the way they ran football.”