Tennessee 66, Missouri 24: Everything Josh Heupel said after the game

What Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said after his fifth-ranked Vols beat Missouri 66-24 Saturday on Senior Day at Neyland Stadium:

OPENING STATEMENT

“First, just want to say thank to our fanbase. First time we’ve gone undefeated at home as a program in quite a while. Their energy, the way that they’ve supported us, the way they’ve showed up every week, has been a huge part of our success for our program here at home. Our players, the staff, myself, absolutely love seeing them. You guys have heard me say the Vol Walk is one of the most special things and unique things in college sports. I truly believe that. Obviously when Neyland is rocking it’s unsurpassed by anything. I appreciate what they’ve done this year. Hopefully we’ll see them travel extremely well as we go to South Carolina next week. I expect that.

“Want to thank our seniors, their families. Just what they’ve meant to this program, since I’ve gotten here, just tried to put it back on a solid foundation. And those guys, what they’ve been through, they’re the guys that chose to stay through uncertainty. They bought in. Jumped in the deep end with me. They’ve bought in. They’ve grown. We’ve been connected in a really unique way. This thing has grown pretty quickly. Can’t say thank you to them enough. Not just what they do on the field but who they are and how they go about their business everyday.”

SCORING LATE IN THE GAME, IF THEY WERE TRYING TO MAKE A STATEMENT

“The statement for us is that we’re a good football team playing good football. What the scoreboard ultimately ends up being, and what people down the line may judge us for, we’re out of control of some of those things. There were a lot of things that were good in the first half, some things that weren’t — offensively, in all three phases. Our best football is still out in front of us. I am proud of the fight, the competition, the ability to reset. The second half, the way our guys went out and competed in all three phases, it was a good win.”

Vols outscore Missouri 38-7 in second half

SCORING 38 UNANSWERED POINTS AFTER MISSOURI GOT BACK WITHIN FOUR IN THE THIRD QUARTER

“There are some things (Missouri) had done. You look at what they’ve done over the course of the season, that’s a really good defense. One of the top ones in this conference. There. Are some things that they did that hurt us. There are some things that we did, too, on the offensive side of the football. The quarterback run in the first half changed the dynamics of the game. There are some things that we did. The two-minute drive that we had, we’re not able to go score on the plus-30 or whatever it was. They hit one play and get three points out of it. So we weren’t as clean as we could be in the first half, our guys don’t blink. Came back and played. I’m proud of that part of it, in particular.”

DYLAN SAMPSON IN THE SECOND HALF

“Planned on playing him here over the last couple weeks, in some respects more than he’s gotten opportunities to. He’s a young guy that continues to get better, that we have trust in, that I think has really good vision to press holes and deliver blocks and get to open space. He was dynamic with the ball in his hands today. He played really good football.”

LATRELL BUMPHUS AND WHAT HE’S MEANT TO THE PROGRAM

“Man, he’s been through all the adversity here at Tennessee during his tenure, his career. Plus all the injuries that he’s been through. I don’t know if there is anybody that cares about the Power T, the players and the locker room more than he does. That’s one of the most selfless people that I’ve ever been around. All he does is come to work, got a great family. That guy is going to be ultra successful whenever his playing does are done. Going to be ultra successful in whatever he chooses to do.”

CEDRIC TILLMAN NOT PLAYING AFTER GOING THROUGH PREGAME

“Ced could’ve played in this one. Just everything going on, it has nothing to do with the ankle. He’ll be ready to go next week. As a program, and talking with him after warmups, just felt like it was probably best to sit this one out.”

PRINCETON FANT CELEBRATING WITH HIS DAUGHTER ON THE FIELD AFTER THE GAME

“I mean, you guys see it as we come down. Really cool just where our families sit. Our players get a chance to see them as they’re running out, as they’re warming up, when they come back in. You can tell wives, kids, players’ families, we try to build a program where everybody is connected and a true family. Princeton Fant, being able to spend time as a dad, be on the field .We got multiple guys that are like that. Those are rare, unique opportunities. You guys see me, we arrive at the stadium, a bunch of recruits (are there). I take a five-minute pause and most of our coaches do. I play catch with my kid. Those are moments that, as a dad, you’re going to cherish. As a kid, I know having been on the other side of that, that means the world. At the end of the day, those are the little things that spur you on to do things the right way and continue to fight to get better.”

THE MOOD WHEN MISSOURI GOT BACK WITHIN 28-24 IN THE THIRD QUARTER

“It was pretty calm. Certainly the guys on the sideline don’t panic. A week ago I don’t think we settled into the game and that starts with me, our assistant coaches and our players together. These guys have been resilient. I think I was asked the question about how these guys were going to respond…We didn’t just land at this spot. These guys have worked and earned it. Their character and who they are has been revealed every day along the way, that’s how we’ve gotten here.  Good teams don’t play perfect but they do compete in a really positive way every Saturday. Our guys did that today.”

BRU MCCOY

“(He brought) consistency, playmaking ability, made some tight catches. He worked over the middle of the football field extremely well. He had some big plays, had third down conversions. The way they matched things out was unique at times and we were trying to find the right match ups to play against. They loaded the box in the first quarter and made it tough to run the football out of the gate. I thought the pitch and catch was important in the early part of the game.”

Tennessee sets single-game program record with 724 yards total offense

THE JALIN HYATT TOUCHDOWN PLAY

“It’s been in my back pocket for awhile. It’s been run different places. We brought it out this week, just felt like we’d have an opportunity to sneak him out. The staff did a great job of coming back to that one. It was timely, they’d cut it to three or four at that point and it was a big time answer.

THE DEFENSIVE RESPONSE AFTER MISSOURI GOT IT BACK TO 28-24

“There wasn’t a whole lot of scheme for us, we just settled in and played better football. The quarterback run, we lost contain on him (early). We didn’t handle the interior run off of some of our twist games. We didn’t match out some of their formations the right way. At the end of it we settled in and made some plays that were routine plays. We were doing ordinary things at a really high level.”

MIZZOU QB BRADY COOK RUNNING

“On the outside we lost contain. Through the middle, it was us not playing off of our twist games to handle the quarterback run.”

STOPPING QB RUNS LATER IN THE GAME

“It was better execution on the back end of it.”

HENDON HOOKER BOUNCING BACK THIS WEEK

“I think his energy, his ability to speak to his teammates throughout the course of the week, but early in the week, is a part of our guys’ handling it and responding the right way. You guys have heard me say it; great teams have great leadership from within the locker room. We have really strong leadership, Hendon is as strong as anybody and he affects our program in such a positive way. Being able to reset from last week, he’s a huge part of that.”

HENDON HOOKER ON SENIOR DAY

“I remember a lot of those moments for a lot of those guys coming through that ’T’. I’m super grateful, thankful, appreciative of what they’ve meant to us and to me. We’re not here without those guys and what they’ve done. Hendon, man, really powerful story. Transferred in, didn’t go right at first stop. He’s a young man that doesn’t get named the starter, continues to pour into his teammates. What a great lesson for everybody in our locker room. He becomes the guy, continues to grow, competes every day, shows up and works, becomes a great leader. He’ll be one of the greats here however it ends out. Pretty cool story. The perseverance it takes to go through that as a player, it’s a hard thing to do and it doesn’t go unnoticed by me.”

JALIN HYATT DROPPING TWO PASSES LATE IN THE FIRST HALF

“You end up coming into halftime, coach (Kelsey) Pope got with him, I said something to him, but he’s played enough football at a high enough level that he’s supremely confident and he went out there and played well in the second half.”

HENDON HOOKER DIRECTING THE BAND

“I had my band moment, I’m going to let him have that one. I do remember Peyton being up on that ladder and doing it. It’s pretty cool moment and one that he’ll remember forever.”