Josh Heupel had an ESPN announcer very irked during Tennessee's win against Iowa
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel had ESPN analyst Brock Osweiler in his feelings at the end of UT's 35-0 win against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. With around two minutes left in the game, and with most of Tennessee's starters out of the game, Osweiler questioned multiple times why the Vols weren't taking a […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel had ESPN analyst Brock Osweiler in his feelings at the end of UT's 35-0 win against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.
With around two minutes left in the game, and with most of Tennessee's starters out of the game, Osweiler questioned multiple times why the Vols weren't taking a knee to end the game.
Tennessee continued to run plays with backup quarterback Gaston Moore in the game until they got close to the goal line before finally letting the clock run out.
"I do understand what Josh Heupel is doing, you look at your quarterback Gaston Moore, he's been with you since UCF, transferred up to Tennessee," said Osweiler. "These are guys that put in the same amount of hours in the weight room and the film room, they don't get to play much. When they do get an opportunity, you want to give them some love, let them have some fun out there. But also, the game is well within hand. You have an opportunity to run out the clock."
"I don't think Iowa likes what Tennessee is doing here, bringing an all-out blitz on the last play," continued Osweiler after a pass attempt by Moore. "….I don't love this move by the Vols right now. You have an opportunity to run out the clock. I get it, you've got some backups in there, they've worked hard, they've earned reps. But there is also a sportsmanship element of this game [that's] well within hand at 35-0."
Osweiler totally missed the point there. Heupel wasn't necessarily rewarding the backups. Those were development reps. Tennessee had young offensive linemen in the game like Vysen Lang, Masai Reddick, Larry Johnson III, and Shamurad Umarov.
Those are players that Tennessee needs to develop. And Heupel wasn't going to take a couple of knees when he could get five or six extra developmental reps for those guys against a really good defensive team in Iowa. There's no substitute for those types of reps. It wasn't about trying to score again (which the Vols didn't) or trying to make Iowa look bad. It was simply about getting those young guys a few live-game reps to end the season.
Osweiler just needs to calm down next time — especially when he doesn't fully understand the situation.
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