After winning its season opener 38-6 over Bowling Green, Tennessee will face a much bigger challenge this Saturday against Pittsburgh.

In fact, the Volunteers are currently 3.5-point underdogs at home.

New coach Josh Heupel’s offense looked solid against the Falcons, but it will need to execute even better against a tough, physical Panthers defense if the Vols hope to move to 2-0.

Of course, everyone knows that Heupel wants his team to play fast on offense, which was a staple of his success at Central Florida.

On Wednesday, however, during the SEC coaches teleconference, Heupel made it clear that time of possession still matters.

The biggest thing is controlling the clock in certain situations,” Heupel said. “That starts at the end of the half. … Straight time of possession, I think you want to look at plays. … Winning those end-of-game situations is extremely important. I don’t care if you’re going fast or slow, if you’re going 3-and-out, you’re putting a lot of pressure on the other side of the football.”

As far as quarterback Joe Milton and his ability to execute what Heupel wants on offense, both in terms of pace and productivity, the Tennessee coach said he’s confident that his junior quarterback will make the right reads as he gets more reps.

“His ability to understand what we’re doing and get his eyes in the right place, ultimately that will get him to the right wide receiver,” Heupel said.