Tennessee HC Josh Heupel sends reassuring message to fans ahead of big game against Georgia
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel sent a reassuring message to fans on Wednesday night ahead of UT's upcoming game against the Georgia Bulldogs. The Vols are coming off a 29 point loss to Missouri — one of the worst losses of the Heupel era — and they could be headed toward a second straight […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel sent a reassuring message to fans on Wednesday night ahead of UT's upcoming game against the Georgia Bulldogs.
The Vols are coming off a 29 point loss to Missouri — one of the worst losses of the Heupel era — and they could be headed toward a second straight loss this weekend if they can't figure out a way to end Georgia's winning streak that stretches nearly two years.
Despite the current rough patch for the Vols, Heupel is confident that Tennessee's football program can reach the same level that Georgia's program has reached over the last several years.
Heupel was asked by a caller on Wednesday night during Vol Calls if Tennessee can become a championship caliber program like Georgia.
"Yeah, we absolutely can," said Heupel in response to the caller. "Their program, they’ve got multiple classes of recruiting at a really high level. Their guys are developed within their program [and] their system. And they’re playing at a really high level and have been playing that way over the last — it’s really longer than this — but the last couple of years, for sure, as they’ve won national championships."
"This program absolutely is capable of that and that’s where we’re going to get to," added Heupel. "Every Saturday is different. The Georgia team this year, you look at them, they’ve continued to get better throughout the course of the season. You’ve heard me say that before on this radio show — good teams continue to get better throughout the course of the season. Last Saturday, we didn’t perform the way that we’re capable of. That’s how it unfolded during the course of that Saturday afternoon. You’ve got to reset, reload and be prepared for the next one and go play good football."
Tennessee's loss to Missouri wasn't a setback for the program, it was simply a bump in the road for a program that's still in the rebuilding stages after 15 years of mediocrity. It was never going to be a quick fix for Heupel. UT's 11-win season in 2022, however, likely put some unrealistic expectations on this year's team.
The Vols embraced those expectations — plenty of Tennessee's players publicly talked about their goal of winning the SEC East this season — but they came up short. It happens. Life in the SEC is tough.
But falling short of those goals clearly isn't deterring Heupel from his ultimate goal of making Tennessee an annual championship contender. That doesn't mean it's going to happen overnight. And the path to get there isn't always going to be smooth. But Heupel and his staff are as committed as ever to getting the Vols to that level.
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