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.”

ATHENS — The final availability report for Georgia’s game against Tennessee.

Georgia has listed Micah Morris, Anthony Evans and Cash Jones as questionable for the game, indicating they are game-time decisions.

Morris is dealing with a lower-body injury he picked up against Florida. Tate Ratledge is not listed on the availability report, indicating that he could be good to start for the Bulldogs. He was unable to finish the game against Ole Miss.

Evans has missed the last two games for Georgia due to a hamstring injury. With Evans out, Malaki Starks has been Georgia’s punt returner. Georgia played only four wide receivers last week against Ole Miss.

Cash Jones’ injury has not been publicly disclosed, as he was a new addition to the injury report this week.

Georgia will be without running back Trevor Etienne, as he is dealing with a rib injury. He first picked up the injury against Florida and was limited to just 6 carries against Ole Miss.

With the injury situation being what it is for Georgia, Nate Frazier will be Georgia’s top running back.

Frazier had 12 rushes for 47 yards and a touchdown last week against Ole Miss.

As for Tennessee, Nico Iamaleava and Donte Thornton will be able to play after being questionable for much of the week. Thornton has been dealing with a hand injury while Iamaleava was in concussion protocol.

This is Georgia’s final SEC game. Georgia’s game against Tennessee is set for a 7:49 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC.

Georgia football availability report against Tennessee

The Tennessee Titans are undergoing yet another change on the offensive line.

With right tackle Leroy Watson IV ruled out this week with a back injury, the Titans’ revolving door at the position is reverting back to the beginning as the team looks to start Nicholas Petit-Frere against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11.

Petit-Frere, 25, started the team’s first four games at right tackle, but was benched following poor performances. But, with his backups struggling to play well and stay healthy, the Titans are giving Petit-Frere another shot.

“The week has been good,” Petit-Frere said via team reporter Jim Wyatt. “We’ve been preparing a lot for Minnesota this week, so ready for the challenge that’s coming up. I love getting a chance to help this team, and glad to get an opportunity to be back out there.”

Petit-Frere has had an absolute whirlwind of a season so far, and it’s only half over. After dealing with an injury back in training camp, the Titans offensive tackle started off slow but was able to win the starting job on the right side.

In Week 3 against the Green Bay Packers, Petit-Frere was benched by the team after a missed assignment that led to quarterback Will Levis being sacked. Since then, Petit-Frere has effectively been in coach Brian Callahan’s doghouse trying to earn his way back onto the field. The Titans have looked at a few different tackles other than him, but none have proven to be a better option than Petit-Frere.

The Titans will almost certainly address the right tackle spot in free agency or the NFL Draft, so Petit-Frere has to change the narrative in the second half of the season, or otherwise he may be replaced for good.

The Titans and Vikings are set to kick off at 12 p.m. CT tomorrow.

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