Josh Heupel’s biggest flaw is officially a major problem for Tennessee after it cost the Vols a chance to beat Alabama
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel showed a major weakness against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night
There are several areas where the Tennessee Vols need to improve after their 37-20 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night.
And it all starts with the head coach.
Vols head coach Josh Heupel’s biggest flaw was fully on display on Saturday night in Bryant-Denny Stadium, and it cost Tennessee a chance to beat Alabama.
Josh Heupel’s biggest flaw is officially a major problem for Tennessee
Heupel simply hasn’t been good at managing situational moments for the Vols’ offense, specifically end-of-half and end-of-game situations.
Just before halftime against Alabama, Heupel backed the offense into a corner by bleeding too much time off the clock.
Tennessee had a chance to cut into Alabama’s 16-7 lead. And it looked like the Vols were going to walk away with at least three points.
Instead, a disastrous end-of-half sequence played out for Tennessee.
On second-and-goal, with nine seconds remaining in the half, Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar tried to hit tight end Miles Kitselman on a quick out route. Alabama’s Zabien Brown read the play perfectly and intercepted the pass, returning it 99 yards for a touchdown that pushed Alabama’s lead to 23-7 at halftime.
The throw wasn’t great from Aguilar — the ball has to be thrown a bit further outside — but the bigger problem was that the play call was predictable due to the situation the Vols were in.
After Heupel’s clock mismanagement, just nine seconds were remaining in the half, and Tennessee had no timeouts. The only option on the second-and-goal play was to pass the ball, which was unfortunate for the Vols because they had been running the ball well.
So when Aguilar rolled to the right, Alabama’s defense knew it just had to cover the two Vols in the end zone on that side of the field. It was expected that UT would roll out Aguilar in that situation so he would have a chance to throw the ball away if nothing was there.
Heupel put his offense in a brutal situation by waiting too long to use his timeouts and letting too much time run off the clock. There was 1:50 left in the second quarter when the Vols picked up a first down at the Alabama 27-yard line, and Tennessee had all three timeouts. There was no reason the Vols should’ve ended up in a situation where they had the ball in a second-and-goal situation with just nine seconds remaining.
That mainly happened because Tennessee allowed 30-ish seconds to run off the clock after Star Thomas picked up a yard on second down before running a third-down play — instead of calling a timeout and preserving time on the clock.
It was very similar to what happened at the end of regulation against Mississippi State when Heupel brutally mismanaged the clock. After the game, Heupel glossed over the clock mismanagement aspect of the botched end-of-half sequence.
“They (Alabama) understand the situation as well,” said Heupel after the game of the predictable play call. “You’ve got a one-two read. Ultimately, we’ve got to be on the right side of it. If it’s there, if it’s not. If it’s not, throw it away and you got one more play. That’s not me putting it on Joey, either. Ultimately, it’s all of us.”
That wasn’t the only situational thing that Heupel messed up on Saturday.
With 3:16 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the Vols trailing by 17, Heupel went for it on fourth down from the Alabama 16-yard line instead of kicking a 33-yard field goal to make it a two-possession game.
It would’ve been a 16-point game, but the Vols oddly went for two when they scored early in the third quarter. The failed two-point conversion made it a three-possession game late instead of a two-possession game.
Heupel gave a nonsensical answer after the game when asked about the decision not to kick the field goal.
“You’re just in a position where you’re close to the end zone,” said Heupel. “So ultimately, [we] went with that.”
That’s just bad game management by Heupel. Really bad.
You’ve got to kick the field goal there, and it’s unbelievable that a coach who is paid nearly $10 million didn’t understand the situation.
Kick the field goal, give yourself a path — even if it’s an unlikely path. Who knows, maybe Bama fumbles the kick return, or fumbles on its first play after the kickoff. Is it likely? No. But could it happen? Absolutely. No one expected Braves relief pitcher Rick Camp to hit a home run in the 18th inning to tie the Mets in the wee hours of July 4 in 1985, but it happened. Sometimes you need a stumble and a fumble to have a special season.
The moment Heupel strayed from giving Tennessee a path, the game was effectively over, despite time still remaining on the clock.
Heupel just hasn’t been good at managing situational moments this season. This isn’t Tennessee’s most fatal flaw, but it is a flaw. It’s impossible to be a championship team if you’re not good at situational football.
Heupel is a good coach. But I don’t think he’s having his best season on game days. To be clear, he’s doing a good job after getting handed a dose of adversity in the spring with the Nico Iamaleava situation, and again in the summer with the Boo Carter situation.
Not to mention the various NIL fires, big and small, that he’s had to put out. Every coach deals with those things these days, but Heupel’s offseason seemed especially challenging. But whatever the reason, I don’t think Heupel’s been at his absolute best this season. He’s on the list of things that need to improve for the Vols to get to the College Football Playoff.
The Vols are 5-2. How they got here doesn’t matter. They have to be better moving forward, or this season will end with a trip to the ReliaQuest Bowl.
Regardless of the various adversities that have impacted this team — such as losing one of the best players in college football in cornerback Jermod McCoy — no one’s goal in Tennessee’s locker room is a random bowl game in Florida that will be played as transfer portal drama gets heated up.
The goal is much bigger. And it’s still attainable. Tennessee has elite talent. The mission moving forward is simple — get hot and see what happens.
And there’s only one way to start a hot streak.
Get better. Play free. Play with an edge. Play pissed off. Just play. And then see what the scoreboard says at the end of the game. Don’t worry about winning the game while you’re trying to win the game. Just go compete and try to win one play at a time. That goes for players, assistant coaches, and the head coach.
Tennessee’s season isn’t over because they lost to Alabama. But if it doesn’t coach and play cleaner, there won’t be a repeat trip to the College Football Playoff for the Volunteers.
Tennessee Volunteers News
Tennessee Vols QB Joey Aguilar was on the wrong side of a very dirty play by the Alabama Crimson Tide
Tennessee Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar was on the wrong side of a dirty hit from an Alabama defender
