Tennessee (1-1) lost to Pittsburgh (2-0), 41-34, in the Johnny Majors Classic on Saturday.
Following Tennessee’s Week 2 contest, first-year head coach Josh Heupel met with media and discussed the Vols’ performance.
Below is a transcript of Heupel’s press conference provided by the University of Tennessee.
Opening statement
“Appreciate the Majors family for being here and having an opportunity to celebrate everything he’s meant to Tennessee football. I thought it was an awesome way to recognize him and everything he’s done as a player and coach. So, I appreciate his family being here. I told the players in the locker room, obviously we’re disappointed with the outcome. A ton of things that had the opportunity to change the course of the football game, from a communication side to turnovers to opportunities in the red zone that we didn’t take advantage of. All of those things are true. But also told them this, this defines today. It does not define this journey that this football team is on. I think it is important that they understand that. This is who we are in week two against Pitt. There’s a lot of things that are controllable that we have an opportunity to get a whole lot better at. If we do, we can take better advantage of the opportunities that we have in the future in the games that we have. I wanted them to understand, we talked about it all week long, understanding who Pitt is as a football team and where they are at as a program. We didn’t want to look at the scoreboard until it ticked to zero and that we were going to compete until the very last tick. I am proud of our football team because I think they did that. We weren’t perfect in how we competed, but we did compete. We have a bunch of guys banged up. I’m sure there will be questions about injuries. You guys saw that unfold with guys that weren’t able to compete from week one who weren’t out on the field. I don’t have an update on everybody. As we go through this weekend, we will be able to clarify where our guys as far as being ready to play for next week.”
On if Joe Milton couldn’t reenter the game due to injury or if Tennessee decided to make a change
“He was, couldn’t come back. Hendon did a great job coming off the bench, competing, giving us a chance, making some plays with his feet and being decisive with the ball in his hands. There are things he would want to do better and do differently. Obviously, the last play he had an opportunity on where we turned it over, but I thought our football team rallied around him, believed in him, and he went out there and competed. He fought extremely hard and gave us a chance in the second half.”
NEXT: Josh Heupel recaps Tennessee-Pittsburgh (continued)