What Tennessee OC Joey Halzle said about Nico Iamaleava, Ohio State on Tuesday

What offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said when he met with reporters on Tuesday to preview No. 9 Tennessee (10-2) at No. 8 Ohio State (10-2) in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday night (8 Eastern Time, ABC/ESPN) at Ohio Stadium in Columbus:

Where Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava has grown in working through his progressions

“Just for any young quarterback, just getting un-scouted looks each and every week. He’s reacting to them quicker and quicker as it’s going on. I think that’s why you’ve seen on this back half of the season, he’s completing passes in almost a 70% clip. Hitting a bunch of big plays down the field. He’s made a bunch of huge plays for us in his last couple games that we needed to get going and to go get in this playoff right here. So  his attention to detail has never wavered. It’s been the same since preseason into season. There’s just nothing like game reps. There’s just absolutely nothing like it. You can try to create it as much as you want, as much scrimmage. But man, it’s just a different animal when there’s live bullets going out there, and you’re getting completely different looks. And you got the play clock, and you got everything going like that. So just him settling into all that, it’s been really cool to see and  a really bright future for him. So we’re excited about that.”

If Mike Matthews is at a spot where he can play, if that’s dependent on other injured receivers

“No, we fully intend on Mike being a big part of everything we’re doing. It’s the same thing now. Like, if this goes the way you want it to go, you have four games left and they got a quarter of a season left to play right here. All those guys that are here and that are going, we expect them to play at a high level. We feel comfortable throwing anybody out there. Our guys are prepared. They’re ready to play. They’re dang good players. So anybody that’s called upon, we expect they go out and they play at a high level and we expect to see that here every week.”

Nico Iamaleava’s growth in the back third of the season

“The way that kid didn’t — I think the way he was able to get to that is he doesn’t blink. You know what I mean? And I said that from the very beginning. The kid’s got a very even heart rate. But man, his decision making and more than anything, his getting rid of the first read into the second, into the third like he was getting all the way through stuff really quickly. That’s why you’re seeing, like, he brought up the Georgia game. Early in that game we’re going one, two, three, and that guy’s getting the ball out. We’re hitting big plays all over the field. So you’re just seeing him being able to make his decision making, which was always good. He’s even taking it to a higher level, so we’re looking forward for that to keep growing for him.”

If the touchdown drive down 14-0 against Vanderbilt was Nico Iamaleava’s biggest of the season

“100%. And for him and really the whole offense. Like we got the ball for the first time, not the first time — we had two snaps, and then we had a turnover. But so our third snap of the game it’s 14-0. And I asked on the headset because I’m on top. I said, how do we look down there? And to a man, every coach was like, ‘we’re good.’ Like, nobody’s blinking. Nobody’s worried. They all know what’s about to happen. We go down drive, score, get a stop, score, and then roll from there. So that drive was huge. And what I loved about what he did in that drive is he didn’t fall into himself. He didn’t start (going) I’m just don’t wanna mess anything up. I don’t wanna have anything bad happen because something bad has already happened. Like, nope. That’s the ball there. I got (Don)te (Thornton). I’m driving the same down the field for a touchdown. So exactly right. That was a very good representation of where we’re at as an offense and where he’s at as quarterback.”

Budgeting his time with playoff prep and dealing with the NCAA Transfer Portal

“That’s the fight right there. With stuff being open right now and recruiting, official visits and all that type of stuff, you can’t stop doing it. But talking with Coach Heupel, you recruit at a high level to go to the playoff and try to win the championship while we’re in this thing. So we can’t stop forgetting what the main thing is, which is going these next four weeks and playing at a high level, giving ourselves a chance to win. So with that, the other thing can’t take a back burner, but it’s the mentality from this whole staff is we are here for a reason. That reason’s to go win this game on Saturday night.”

What makes Ohio State’s defense so effective

“Starts, you got really good players across the board. They roll out there. They play an extremely aggressive brand of defense. They pressure a bunch. They’ll come. They’ll press their corners. They’ll press their safeties, their nickel. They let their defensive linemen change up their rush techniques. Everything they do is designed to try to create negatives and try to take the will with an offense. So they present a very unique challenge. They’re a really good defense. That’s why, as you said, their numbers are at the top if not the top of every defensive category right there. It’s a unique challenge. We feel like our guys are ready for it, and they’re looking forward to what that challenge is gonna be on Saturday night.”

The different element that 12 personnel has brought to the offense

“It’s a bunch. And like you said, in the passing game too, created a bunch of individual matchups for us out wide in the 12 personnel passing game. And when people were playing wide, it created big holes inside. So it’s been a really, really good addition for us. The tight end room led us be able to do that. We have some really good players in there. And I think there’s a lot of times, like, when you get big is to run the ball. But you get big and you got those wide outs out there that can run the way our guys can and it creates one-on-ones. And we’ve had a bunch of big explosive plays in the 12 personnel passing game. So it’s been a huge addition to what we did. It was something we knew we wanted to grow starting in February, and we committed to it. And we’re saving the fruits of that here in the season.”

The risk-reward factor of Tennessee playing slower on third downs

“It’s like you said, it’s what is the actual situation that’s going on right here. Are you in a good situation, bad situation? What’s the momentum? What’s the feel of the game? The most important thing, like people talk about our tempo and all that stuff is running good, efficient football plays. Like, that is what it is. That’s what it comes down to. And if we have to sacrifice the tempo to get everybody to communicate, be on the same page, we’ll do that. If we can play with our tempo, we’ll do that. If we want to sub and move bodies around to get people in the right spot to try to create an advantageous matchup, we’ll do that. So there’s not really one way to do this thing, especially when you go, like you said, into a hostile environment. The most important thing is always going to be running good football plays efficiently. And then everything else takes a backseat to that.”

Ohio State’s defense having good edge rushers

“It’s picking your time to push it down the field without being reckless about it. When they try to talk you out of pushing the ball down the field, they try to talk you out of playing aggressively. So we have to not allow that to be something that we’re saying we’re gonna go play in the box now. But like I said, from the very beginning, they got really good players and they let them turn loose and they go play. That’s the challenge with these guys. So our tackles know, our quarterbacks know, our whole offense knows what this is gonna be on Saturday night. It’s gonna be a fight for 60 minutes, but we’re looking forward to that opportunity and a chance to mix it up with these guys.”

How he’d describe the year offensively, the adversity helping the offense ahead of the College Football Playoff

“What I was talking about, that the offense doesn’t really blink. This team hasn’t blinked when we’ve had tough situations. Start of the season and everyone’s lighting the world on fire. And then the biggest thing for us as we are working through and we’re having our first half struggles was, man, it was us. Which was a positive thing as we were talking to guys. Like, if it’s us, if we’re the issue, then, man, we can solve it. There was never an issue of being stopped. We were driving down the field and something would happen. And the biggest thing that we would talk about is we don’t get to take our turn. Let’s all make a concerted effort not to take our turn. It’s not gonna be me on this one. And if we’re all playing like that, then we’re not gonna have the self-inflicted wounds that end drives. Whether it was a turnover, whether it was a penalty, whether it was an MA, whatever it may be, just don’t take your turn. You don’t have to play stressed. You don’t have to play up tight. But, man, play according to your fundamentals. Play according to your teaching, and everything else takes care of itself. And that’s what you’ve seen on the back half is we’re just not getting in our own way as we get drives going anymore. You don’t get your own way. It’s helpful. These defenses are too good. If you help them, it’s really hard to stay on the field.”

Not letting the weather affect the Tennessee offense

“I mean, the simple question to that one is you don’t. Like, yeah it will be cold out there. We’ve played cold games before. I mean, it was snowing here last week. You go out there, it’s cold in pregame, and then you start playing, and man, you don’t feel it anymore. You go out and you play at a high level. Should be good field conditions. It’s not gonna be like a wet track or anything like that. Like, that is not something that we’re harping on. Like, hey, it’s going to be cold. You better be ready. Like, man, let’s throw and catch the ball. Let’s handle it well. Let’s do good with our exchanges quarterback center and quarterback running back It’s the playoffs. It’s gonna be cold there. Let’s go play. Like, that ain’t gonna be a thing that slows us down now.”

How Nico Iamaleava reacts to the Ohio State scouting report as compared to a UTEP

“There’s not a difference in it. It’s always what’s the game plan? What are we attacking? What do we see? What do we want to do? How are we going to go win this ball game? Like, that’s just what it is. And it has to be. Coach Heup has said from the very beginning since we got here, every week it’s a nameless, faceless opponent. Like, that’s what it is. That has to be the mentality. That’s how you go on the road and win. That’s how you win at home. That’s how you don’t have your slip up games. Like, it’s a nameless, faceless opponent. You show up, you respect every opponent, and you respect them by preparing at a really high level. And then you go out on game day, you cut the thing loose, you don’t play with any kind of reservations. Like, that is what it takes to go win against good football teams. So they’re very good on defense. Man, let’s go attack and see what happens.”

Keeping the footballs warm

“Yeah. I think our equipment managers do a great job. We got everything under the sun as far as what you’re allowed to have down there to keep the guys’ hands warm, the balls warm, to keep it as good as possible. They do a great job of mudding them up and all that stuff. So don’t think that’s gonna be an issue. We’ll try to not sub the ball as much as possible because when you sub the ball, you got to slow down. So we’ll try to do that as little as possible. But if it calls for it, Nico always knows that anything weather wise happens that he doesn’t like the ball, he’ll just signal and call for a new one to get a new ball. Solike I said, it’s not something we’ve had a bunch of focus on from our end. That’s what our equipment guys, they’re stressing about, so I’ll let them handle that. But we feel like we should be able to go handle this well and and go play at a high level.”