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Tennessee dropped a heartbreaker on Saturday, losing 41-34 at home against Pittsburgh on an afternoon when it made one mistake after another in front of a raucous crowd at Neyland Stadium.
Penalties, turnovers, and an inability to get off the field on 3rd down for much of the game all cost the Volunteers a chance to move to 2-0 under new coach Josh Heupel.
After the game, needless to say, Heupel was disappointed about the lost opportunity.
Here are some of his observations on the game:
On what the Vols will do going forward at quarterback in light of Hendon Hooker’s play is relief of an injured Joe Milton:
Josh Heupel: "It’s a game-by-game evaluation"
On potential QB decision
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) September 11, 2021
On the spot on Hooker’s 3rd down run late in the 4th quarter where it looked like Tennessee might be headed for a tying touchdown:
Josh Heupel said he did feel like Hendon Hooker got to the yard to gain prior to the 4th-and-1 that Tennessee didn't convert on near the goal line.
— Ben McKee (@benmckee14) September 11, 2021
On Hooker potentially being named the starter at QB for next week’s game against Tennessee Tech:
Josh Heupel on Hendon Hooker possibly being the starting QB: We're going to go back and evaluate everybody. That may mean more opportunities for certain guys or other guys fixing some things they can control.
— Ben McKee (@benmckee14) September 11, 2021
On how he and his players are taking the loss:
Vols head coach Josh Heupel: “We’re disappointed with the outcome.”
Mentioned key mistakes in the game and missed chances late. Message to the team was this loss doesn’t define the season and improvement will come through the season
— Karthik Venkataraman (@KarthikV_) September 11, 2021
On his team’s effort throughout the game:
#Vols coach Josh Heupel: I loved the way we competed today. I didn’t love some of the things that happened while we competed. We have to clean that up. That hurt us today.
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) September 11, 2021
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
