Tennessee Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh made some comments this week that show why UT's coaching staff is elite and why the players believe in them so much.

Golesh was asked by a reporter if Georgia out-schemed Tennessee in the Bulldogs' 27-13 win.

This is good stuff from Alex Golesh. Not bending the knee to Georgia, just basically saying “hey in that 60 minutes they were better than us”. That’s why players believe in this staff. There is no “oh it’s gonna take 5 years to build this”. pic.twitter.com/xRDOFRL6aI

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) November 9, 2022

"They have 11 guys, they can only do so many different things," said Golesh on Tuesday. "If the question is, 'did they out-scheme us and did we have no idea what was going on?' Absolutely not. They had a really good scheme, they played really well. We have a really good scheme, we did not play well."

"Again, schematically, we were sound," added Golesh. "We were behind the chains because of the pre-snap penalties the entire night. So, blueprint, yes, the blueprint for those guys, really good players, really good coaches. Awesome. We have really good players, really good coaches. On that day, in that 60 minutes, they were better than us. We screwed up a bunch with the pre-snap penalties."  

Fans and players should love this answer from Golesh.

He could've easily mentioned that Georgia has a ridiculous amount of five-star players and chalked up the loss to that talent disparity.

But instead, Golesh simply said that Georgia was better for 60 minutes on Saturday than Tennessee was.

That quote is why UT's players are bought into this coaching staff. Josh Heupel and his staff haven't been preaching that this is a five-year rebuild. Instead, they've expressed belief in the players on their roster. And they haven't put limits on what the program can accomplish. Without this approach from Tennessee's coaches, I don't think the Vols are competing for a national championship this season.

And if you think this is something that all coaches do, you're wrong.

Golesh's answer about getting beat by Georgia is much different than South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer's answer about losing to the Bulldogs last season.

Beamer took the "they have better players" route.

Shane Beamer gives an honest and accurate take after facing Georgia’s defense when asked about SC’s issues matching up with them:

“They got like 100 5-star football players on their defense.” pic.twitter.com/HNEfdSVEHI

— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) September 19, 2021

I can't imagine South Carolina's players felt very confident after hearing that quote.

Golesh could've easily gone with the same answer. And he would've been right — all we have to do is look to the recruiting rankings to tell us that Georgia has better players.

But instead, Golesh showed his players that he believes they're on the same level as Georgia's players.

That's what good coaches do. And that's one of the main reasons Tennessee is competing for a national championship after going just 3-7 two years ago.