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Josh Heupel gives coy response when asked about questionable officiating during Tennessee’s loss
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Josh Heupel was well aware that his team didn’t score a single point in the 2nd half, so the blame for Tennessee’s 31-17 loss at Georgia on Saturday night didn’t lie at the feet of the officials.
But that doesn’t mean the Volunteers head coach was in a good mood in the postgame press conference when asked the referees. Tennessee was called for 9 penalties for 70 yards, probably a little too many to win a game in Athens against a desperate Georgia team that already came in with 2 losses.
Heupel was well aware of that, too, but that didn’t stop him from responding with some deep sarcasm, and maybe a little anger, when asked about a facemask penalty called against the Volunteers on the Bulldogs’ first drive of the 2nd half on a 2nd-and-24 play. The 15-yard penalty ignited Georgia’s drive, and sure enough the Bulldogs cashed in on the 12-play, 87-yard march with a Carson Beck 10-yard touchdown run that broke a 17-17 tie and gave Georgia the lead for good.
When a reporter told Heupel that it looked like the back of the Georgia player’s helmet popped off and there wasn’t a Tennessee player’s hand on his facemask, Heupel stared coldly at him and turned his microphone in the reporter’s direction, asking him, “Can you repeat that?”
When the reporter asked Heupel if he got an explanation on the call, Heupel did the cold stare act again and simply responded: “Next question.”
Here is how Josh Heupel responded when asked about the facemask penalty. pic.twitter.com/SMKG9Q4znw
— Mike Wilson (@ByMikeWilson) November 17, 2024
It was a tough 2nd half for Heupel and his team, and now the 8-2 Volunteers will look to bounce back and stay in the College Football Playoff hunt next Saturday at home against UTEP.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
