‘He leaned hard into those things’ – Josh Heupel made a calculated move before Tennessee embarrassed Kentucky, and Vols fans need to see more of it
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel made sure his team was motivated before the Vols’ 34-6 win over the Kentucky Wildcats.
The Kentucky football team and fan base were extremely confident going into Knoxville last weekend.
Kentucky fans were so confident, in fact, that they snuck onto Tennessee’s campus and painted the rock blue.
All of that confidence, however, turned out to be misguided.
Tennessee thumped Kentucky 34-6 in Neyland Stadium in front of an electric crowd.
Vols head coach Josh Heupel admitted late last month that keeping a team focused in the transfer portal era is one of the toughest jobs a head coach has.
“I think, in part because of that (roster turnover), keeping your team together during the duration of the season,” said Heupel just before Halloween. “The focus of your team week in and week out and, really, as much as anything, day in and day out to be your best by game day is the biggest thing that you’ve got to do a great job of.”
Josh Heupel used Kentucky’s confidence to motivate the Vols
Heupel brilliantly used Kentucky’s confidence — which included Wildcats head coach Will Stein’s “Man in the Arena speech” — to motivate his team last weekend.
“That Tennessee football team, they took that one to heart,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will when asked about the rock getting painted blue. “That one resonated with them — that somebody came on their campus and did that and didn’t have any more respect for their program.
“And if you don’t think Josh Heupel leaned into that on Saturday morning, you’re absolutely crazy. He leaned into that. He leaned into the man in the arena comment from Will Stein. He leaned hard into those things to make sure his team was ready to play, and that’s as focused as his team has been. And I’m not saying that they weren’t focused for Alabama or other games, but you could tell on the sideline during pregame warmup, like, ‘Alright, they’re in a different headspace right here.’ It showed up from the start for Tennessee, and obviously they played well for 60 minutes.”
Keeping the whole roster motivated for an entire season isn’t easy. The ability to do it, though, is what made Nick Saban consistently successful for so long, and it’s why Kirby Smart’s Georgia teams are ready to play every Saturday (the Auburn game notwithstanding…no one bats 1.000).
I love seeing this from Heupel. It’s something that all championship teams do well.
But he’ll need to press the right buttons again this week before Tennessee travels to College Station to play Texas A&M. The teams that play with an edge are usually the teams that win. The Vols had an edge last week against Kentucky, and they’ll certainly need one on Saturday afternoon against the Aggies.
