Josh Heupel on College Football Playoff: 'Now the next season starts. What are we going to do with it?'
Josh Heupel ended his press conference Saturday afternoon at FirstBank Stadium with a question of his own. No. 7 Tennessee had just wrapped up the regular season by beating Vanderbilt 36-23, but now the fun starts, with the Vols seemingly cementing their spot in the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff with the win.
“Now the next season starts,” Heupel said. “What are we going do with it?”
No. 7 Tennessee (10-2, 6-2 SEC) got down 14-0 in the first quarter after Vanderbilt (6-6, 3-5) took the opening kickoff back 100 yards for at touchdown, then chased in a Dylan Sampson fumble for a second score just over five minutes into the game.
Tennessee rallied from 14-0 deficit in 36-23 win at Vanderbilt
After the Vols benefited from chaos across college football last week, it looked like they might the victims this time.
Then Tennessee answered with 36 of the game’s next 39 points, going up 36-17 on a Max Gilbert 22-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.
On Tuesday night Tennessee moved up to No. 8 in the updated College Football Playoff Top 25 and was seeded ninth in the 12-team bracket by the selection committee.
The Vols got help in their quest to host a first-round playoff game with No. 2 Ohio State losing against Michigan in Columbus Saturday afternoon, around the same time Tennessee was finishing off the win at Vandy.
A new CFP Top 25 and bracket update will be released again on Tuesday. The official bracket will be set on December 8, after the conference championship games.
“It was a goal,” Heupel said of making the expanded playoff, “but there was an expectation to be in this and that comes from the work that everybody has put in and who we have in the building. Proud of these guys for for executing and putting us in a position to be there.”
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Tennessee rebounded from the 19-14 loss at Arkansas on October 5 to be ranked No. 7 and seeded eighth in the first College Football Playoff rankings.
Vols finish with 10 wins in regular season for second time under Josh Heupel
The Vols dropped to No. 11 in the rankings and the first team out of the bracket after the 31-17 loss at Georgia two weeks ago.
It’s the second 10-win regular season for Tennessee under Heupel, who led the Vols to an 11-2 record after an Orange Bowl win over Clemson in 2022.
That season’s playoff hopes, back when the field was just four teams, were done after getting upset at South Carolina.
Heupel’s team wasn’t going to let that happen again on Saturday at Vanderbilt, with everything on the line.
“It’s finishing the way that we needed to and that we wanted to,” he said. “It’s always sweet. And these guys earned the right for this to be a big game. They went out, they took it. Got to take it as a competitor when you’re in the arena.”
