In Josh Heupel’s first two seasons as Tennessee’s head coach he’s opted for a bland answer about the timing of the Vols’ open date.
Call it the thrill of victory or something else, but even Heupel admitted that Tennessee’s early October opening date is coming at a good time following the Vols’ 41-20 victory over South Carolina at Neyland Stadium Saturday night.
“We’re a football team that needs to get healthy,” Heupel said. “I usually get the question, is it coming at the right time? For us right now, I would say it’s coming at the right time. We need to get healthy and get some young guys to grow.
The need to get healthy is the most pressing reason this is a well timed open date for Tennessee. Tennessee has a myriad of injuries to players in its two-deep. The Vols don’t have an abundance of stars sidelined currently but they have a number of important depth pieces sidelined.
Against South Carolina Saturday, offensive linemen Andrej Karic and Gerald Mincey, receiver Dont’e Thornton and defenders Keenan Pili and Warren Burrell didn’t play while fellow corner Doneiko Slaughter played very limited snaps after missing the last two games.
Tennessee receiver Bru McCoy suffered a season ending injury in the win while defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott also exited the game with an injury.
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The Vols won’t get McCoy back this season but his injury highlights the other reason this is a good time for an open date. Tennessee needs to continue to get better and finding players to step up in McCoy’s absence is now a pressing matter.
“We gotta grow as a football team,” Heupel said. “Good teams continue to get better throughout the course of the season. And we gotta play smarter football and our margins just aren’t big enough to, to not do that. So we’re in control of that.”
The margins are smaller for this Tennessee team and that talent gap between them and much of its SEC schedule is very small. To Heupel’s point, Tennessee needs to keep improving and doing so will affect a multitude of games.
Tennessee’s schedule is the other reason why the open date comes at a good time. The Vols have three straight challenging SEC games after their open dating starting with a critical matchup against Texas A&M at Neyland Stadium.
The Aggies are one of the best teams remaining on Tennessee’s schedule and have an extremely talented front seven that will make it difficult for the Vols to effectively run the football.
The good news: Josh Heupel coached teams are fantastic coming off an open date and his offenses have performed well in those games. Tennessee will need a strong a creative offensive game plan to have success against Texas A&M’s staunch defense.
2 Responses
I realize injuries happy. With this off week, UT will have a longer time to get ready for Texas A&M.
I have confidence that coaching staff will do just that, in replacing those injured players. Good luck. Keep on keeping on!!!! Love you BIG ORANGE!!!!!!!
Agree with getting some of the younger guys ready and better. Losing Bru is a killer to our receiving group, the young guys have to get better and better quick. We are still talented at this position just young. Bru may have been the best offensive player on the team, he will be missed that’s a fact.