There were questions all week about how Tennessee football quarterback Joey Aguilar would do in his first SEC road start. In Starkville, he did enough to beat Mississippi State 41-34 in overtime. Afterward, Aguilar fielded questions from the media in his press conference.
He was asked about what he thought of the game, his interceptions, touchdown run and more.
Ultimately, Aguilar finished with 335 passing yards, a touchdown and two interceptions on 24-of-40 passing. He also ran for 21 yards on seven totes with a crucial score in the fourth quarter.
Here’s everything he said.
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On how he feels after a wild game, what he’ll remember
“I’ll probably process everything a little later tonight or tomorrow. I’m still cooling off from the game. But exciting game, super fun. Thank God for putting me in this position and allowing my team to go out there and keep everyone safe and have a fun game. Man, I’m not even sure. I’m still trying to process the game. Great team win. We were in this position not too long ago and came out, focused on details throughout the week. God put us in that position again. Shoutout the team for fighting. Shoutout the defense for getting us out of certain situations. But, overall, I think offensively, we got to excute a little better on my part for sure. But great win.”
On his two picks that were batted in the air
“Just bad ball placement. I just got to give my receiver a better chance to catch the ball. Nothing much other than that.”
On his mindset needing a touchdown late to tie it
“I tell them all the time in the huddles, just play-by-play and execute. You try to focus on other stuff and your mind goes everywhere. We should just go in there and take it literally just by play-by-play. Just focus on the details of what we call and what we do.”
On his conversation with a Mississippi State staffer after the game
“Actually, it was a chapel for the other team. We just had a little prayer after the game.”
On what TE Miles Kitselman means to the team
“He was a big key in our run game and our pass game. Just to feed him the ball is going to help us out. Obviously, one interception gets tipped in the air. That’s on me and I told him that. At the end of the day, we need Miles. Whatever I can do to get him the ball and get him out of his head and just go out there and play his game.”
On the last scoring drive of regulation to tie the game
“I’ve been in a couple game-winning drives to get us into field goal range or to win the games. It’s really just confidence in my team and the offense. They fought all day even though I made mistakes and turned the ball over a little bit. Those guys believed in me and the least I can do is believe in them. I went out there and trusted my receivers, trusted my running backs and my o-linemen and we excuted.”
On what he saw on his rushing touchdown
“Grass, I would say. I just followed my block. Opened up and we had to get in the end zone so I was going to do whatever I had to do to get into the end zone.”
On the ebbs and flows, what it says they fought through mistakes
“It just shows that this team, we stick together no matter what. We kind of play off of each other. Defense got highs, offense got highs. Defense got lows, offense got lows. We bounce energy within each other. Offense goes out there, not so good. Defense goes out there and gets a stop to get the offense back rolling. And then vice versa. Defense, something happens, offense goes out there and executes. Just shows how connected this team is and how we keep fighting.”
On a lot of Tennessee fans traveling for the game
“It was a white-out game and there was a lot of orange out there. Tennessee, they travel and it means a lot. Not only to me but this team to show the support that we got. For it to be that deep of orange, it was awesome to see.”
On his coach at App State passing away this week
“He gave me an opportunity to get out of juco and gave me a shot at App State. This week was really hard on me with Coach Clark. But, man, just appreciate him a lot for allowing me the opportunity and praying for his family.”
