‘The fact that Josh took a delay of game penalty’ – Josh Heupel deserves more credit for the way he coached Tennessee’s win over Auburn
Josh Heupel isn’t getting nearly enough credit for the way he coached in Tennessee’s win over Auburn.
Tennessee’s 24-14 win over Auburn last weekend may have been ugly, and it may have exposed more areas where the Vols need to improve, but it was also one of the best game day coaching jobs we’ve seen from Josh Heupel.
Now, that doesn’t mean Heupel was perfect — the two minute situation at the end of the first half didn’t go well — but he did what needed to be done to get a win on Saturday.
No one ever knows how a game will actually unfold. The main job of the head coach is to figure out what needs to be done to get a win that particular day.
And that’s what Heupel did against Auburn.
He recognized early that the game was going to be a defensive battle, so he adjusted his game plan. Heupel played field position and trusted his defense. He made a quarterback switch when things weren’t working with Faizon Brandon. And he worked the clock to shorten the game by leaning on running back DeSean Bishop, who set a career high with 34 carries (his previous career high was 24 carries against Florida in 2025).
It was appropriate gameday management on a day when Tennessee was honoring General Robert Neyland.
“I think it was playing field position,” said Vol Network sideline reporter Brent Hubbs when asked about Heupel’s most Neyland-esque moment against Auburn. “The fact that Josh Heupel took a delay of game penalty to punt the ball deep. We saw Josh Heupel do that against Texas A&M in 2023, which was really the first time where you went, ‘Oh, true complementary football.’
“Heupel not going for it on that situation and [choosing to] punt to play field position. Josh Heupel recognized early in the game that that was a path to go in the game. I think that single moment where he actually took a penalty, backed it up, and then the punt worked to perfection to pin them deep (was important).”
Heupel admitted on The Mike Keith Show that he was trying to drain the clock with quarterback George MacIntyre.
“He was composed,” said Heupel of MacIntyre. “He handled situational football extremely well with the minute mode that we were in with draining some of the clock.”
There are plenty of things that Tennessee needs to correct after the ugly win over Auburn. But as far as doing what needed to be done to get a win with the way the game unfolded, well, you can’t do it much better than Heupel did it last Saturday against the Tigers.
