Tennessee didn’t get the win last weekend against South Carolina, but I thought Vols head coach Josh Heupel coached a good game.

The Volunteers, for example, nailed the end of the first half — they held South Carolina to a field goal and scored a touchdown before going to halftime. We’ve been critical of Heupel’s time management in end of half situations over the last couple of years, but he nailed it against the Gamecocks.

Even the drive near the end of the game that failed because of the botched fourth down call was managed well. If the fourth down play is executed, the Vols walk away with an impressive road win.

There were several small mistakes made during the course of the game by Tennessee, however, that ended up having a major impact. I mean, Jesse Perry getting left one-on-one with Dylan Stewart on Tennessee’s final drive was a bad decision by someone (I’m not an offensive line guru — far from it — so I don’t know where the blame lies on that play or what the protection call/adjustment was….maybe one day Heupel will tell us).

The two mistakes from Tennessee’s loss to South Carolina that stand out the most have an explanation that no one wants to hear

Two of the biggest mistakes that Tennessee made that impacted the game were made by young players. One was the aforementioned botched fourth down play where sophomore quarterback George MacIntyre didn’t hand the ball off (I touched on that in depth here).

The other was when Tennessee had a touchdown wiped off the board because true freshman wide receiver Tyreek King didn’t line up correctly (or didn’t do what he was supposed to on the play).

There have been some questions about why King, who hadn’t played any SEC snaps this season prior to the South Carolina game, was even in the game at that point.

What was missed by some, including myself, at the time was that wide receiver Braylon Staley was apparently banged up and getting checked out.

Staley’s primary backup, Joakim Dodson, is out for the year. So that’s why King was put in the game in that spot.

This was the alignment issue on the TD pass that was called back pic.twitter.com/N40UtdX5rX

— gmannVOLS (@gmannVOLS) October 24, 2026

There are some folks who have suggested that Heupel should’ve called time out before the snap on the King play once he noticed the alignment issue.

I understand the sentiment, but I’m not sure that’s what Heupel actually should’ve done.

From the way I understand it, once King was on the line of scrimmage, the formation was legal. The problem was that King ran a route down the field. Had he stayed behind the line of scrimmage, no flag would’ve been thrown.

Heupel said after the game King missed his assignment on what he was supposed to do. I think that indicates that he wasn’t supposed to run a route.

The Vols had the look and the matchup they wanted, King eventually got lined up correctly before the snap, and then the true freshman made a mistake.

Ultimately, this play was the result of a lack of experienced depth — which is reality for almost every team across the sport (thanks to NIL and the transfer portal).

The play that was called obviously worked. The touchdown was taken away because of King’s mistake, which — and I say this all the time — is going to happen from time to time with young players.

That may be a play that King has repped a bunch in practice and had no issues with. I don’t think he would’ve been in the game if the coaches didn’t think he could handle the assignment. But he’s also a young player who is in the very early stages of his career. We see young players make mistakes all the time. Many of those young players learn from those mistakes and go on to have incredible careers. That play shouldn’t define King.

But back to the blame for the play.

The more I think about this play and what happened, the more I don’t think there’s really anyone to blame. No one is playing perfect in college football — especially in the portal era. We are seeing good teams make silly mistakes on a weekly basis. Sometimes it’s because of youth, other times it’s because a team doesn’t have a lot of continuity because of the portal. Whatever the reason, it’s something that everyone in college football is dealing with to some extent.

We saw a young player in King experience a tough learning moment. It was a mistake, and I think some fans and a LOT of folks in the media forget that making mistakes is part of developing as a player.

Tennessee thought they could exploit something in South Carolina’s defense at that point in the game. Staley was unavailable, so they called on King, and he didn’t execute in the moment. That happens in sports. None of these college players are finished products. They’re all still developing.

I understand fans having high expectations. The coaches have high expectations, too. But these guys aren’t going to be perfect. It’s never perfect. Every game is going to have miscues and mistakes. King has to learn from it and not make the same mistake again.

But as far as making that play out as a catastrophic failure that serves as an indictment of the coaching staff or the player?

I don’t think that’s fair. I think everyone needs a reminder that no one bats 1.000 when it comes to decision-making and execution. Everyone goes through a growing process. Whichever Hall of Famer you grew up idolizing went through the same things. Coaches who have statues have had similar moments. It is just part of competing.

Ultimately, I think everyone needs to understand that accountability and patience can coexist.