Heupel shuns CFP talk, bullish on Vols after loss

ATHENS, Ga. — On one of those nights that not much of anything went right for Tennessee after its quick first-quarter start, the clincher might have come afterward in the bowels of Sanford Stadium during coach Josh Heupel’s postgame news conference.

With the 31-17 loss to Georgia still gnawing at everybody in orange — Tennessee’s eighth straight setback to the Bulldogs and a glancing blow to the Vols’ College Football Playoff hopes – Heupel was twice drowned out Saturday night while trying to answer questions when a cell phone ringtone began blaring the Georgia “Battle Hymn” just outside the interview area.

Heupel wanted no part of any playoff talk, but was as bullish as ever about the caliber of his football team.

“Man, I have no idea,” Heupel said when asked where the Vols stood in the playoff chase. “All I know is this league, in college football, is as good as it gets. It is. Teams get beat on the road sometimes. It’s hard to win, man, in this league. That’s a good football team that we just played that lost a couple of close ones on the road against good football teams and had turnovers in those games.

“It’s a good football team. We’re a good football team, too.”

The Vols (8-2, 6-2) joined Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss as SEC teams with two conference losses. Texas and Texas A&M each have just one loss, and the teams at the top have all beaten each other. Alabama beat Georgia. Tennessee beat Alabama. Georgia beat Tennessee, Ole Miss beat Georgia, which beat Texas. In last week’s CFP rankings, Tennessee was No. 7 and Georgia No. 12, meaning the Bulldogs would have been out of the playoff.

“Definitely, we knew what was at stake,” Tennessee defensive tackle Jaxson Moi. “Obviously we treat it like another game, but we had that (playoff ramifications) in the back of our minds. But we’re moving on. This is the past. There’s nothing you could change now, so we’re just trying to focus on what’s next and control the controllables.”

The Vols jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and the Bulldogs’ offensive line took over the game after that against a Tennessee defense that had not given up more than 19 points in a game all season.

There were also at least two penalties that went against Tennessee in the second half that changed the complexion of the game, one a 15-yard facemask penalty against cornerback Rickey Gibson III on a second-and-24 play leading to Georgia’s go-ahead touchdown. The second came in the fourth quarter when the Vols were hit with an illegal participation penalty after officials ruled Moi didn’t get off the field in time. Two plays later, Georgia went ahead 31-17.

Heupel was clearly steamed about both calls and cut off a reporter who asked about the Georgia drive where the facemask penalty was called.

“Yeah, on the second-and-24?” Heupel asked tersely.

Asked how pivotal those two calls were in flipping the game, Heupel responded, “Pretty big.”

A few minutes later, a reporter mentioned the replay on the facemask, and Heupel said, “What did it look like?”

Told that it appeared that the back of the helmet popped off and there wasn’t a hand on the facemask, Heupel turned the microphone toward the reporter and said, “Can you repeat that?”

Heupel said “next question” when asked if officials gave him an explanation. A Tennessee media relations official asked if there were any other questions for Heupel, and he looked at a reporter and said, “Do you want to ask about the 12-men-on-the-field penalty?”

When the reporter said he would, Heupel again turned the microphone in his direction and said, “What did it look like?”

At that point, Tennessee media relations officials ended the news conference.

Heupel said this team has been too good and too invested this season to allow this loss to linger. The Vols have UTEP next week at home and then end the regular season on the road against Vanderbilt.

“We did a lot of the right things in the lead-up to the game tonight,” Heupel said. “But it’s what happens out on that field that defines tonight. It’s the reality of it, and it’s the nature of being a competitor. Where do we go from here? Man, let it soak in, let it hurt, watch it, grow from it, get our next opportunity. You know what I mean? We’ve got two more guaranteed, but the only one that matters is next week, and so this group will continue to grow.

“We don’t control what we don’t control. We control our preparation. We can control how we get ourselves ready to go play next Saturday. We’ve got a good football team in that locker room, man. It’s a good football team. We’ve got to coach a little better, got to play a little better.”

Quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who played in the game after being cleared from concussion protocol during the week, added: “There’s a lot of frustration, a lot of anger. We put a lot of work in to come out with a win in this game, and yeah, we came up short, didn’t play smart in the second half and it’s going to sting. We’ve got to let it sting and just learn from this.”