Josh Heupel discusses how Vols have responded after Austin Peay win

Josh Heupel discusses how the Vols have responded after the Austin Peay win.

No. 9 Tennessee (2-0, 0-0 SEC) will play at Florida (1-1, 0-0 SEC) on Saturday in Week 3 (7 p.m. EDT, ESPN).

Rankings reflect the Week 3 US LBM Coaches Poll.

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with media on Monday and discussed how the Vols have responded after defeating Austin Peay, 30-13, in Week 2.

“Really good,” Heupel said. “Good energy out on the grass with them today. Really good in the meeting room, too. I anticipated that from these guys. We have strong leadership and guys care about their performance, but they care about how they get there too. I said it after the game too, that I didn’t feel like we didn’t prepare the right way. At the end of the day, we were on the right side of the competitive edge to go play the way that we are capable of.

“That being said, there’s a lot of things that we did really well too during the course of the game. I thought the effort, strain, energy and technique on special teams was really good. Defensively, they played really sound the majority of the football game. Gap assignments allowed a couple of big runs early in the football game, but other than that it was really good. Offensively, we ran it for near eight yards a carry, and we had some efficiency in the passing game too. Penalties, in the red zone in particular, dropped balls and hitting a couple of more passes would lead to a different score, certainly one that we all want, but those are all things that we control. It was a big point of emphasis today with our guys. Control the controllable, which is what sits in that room and how we prepare.”

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Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire