Despite a late deficit and plenty of mistakes throughout the game, Tennessee football managed to pull a win from the jaws of defeat in Starkville. In one overtime period, the Vols snagged a 41-34 win over Mississippi State inside Davis Wade Stadium. It pushes UT to 4-1 on the season and 1-1 in SEC play.
For Mississippi State, the Bulldogs now sit at 4-1, as well, but 0-1 in the conference slate. This is still a dramatic improvement from the 2-10 season MSU put together a year ago.
After the dramatic win that was capped off with a goalline fourth down stop, SEC Network pulled aside Vols head coach Josh Heupel. With the emotions still running high, he gave his thoughts on the defense and his quarterback, Joey Aguilar.
The defense allowed 34 points and had trouble stopping the run at times. Mississippi State earned 378 total yards, including 198 on the ground. Fluff Bothwell was responsible for 134 of the rushing yards on 23 carries to go with two touchdowns.
Aguilar finished the matchup 24-for-40 through the air. He tossed for 335 yards and a touchdown, but did throw two interceptions on balls that were intended for Miles Kitselman.
Here’s what Heupel said afterward.
“I love the competitive makeup of our football team.”
that’s a gritty w in Starkville pic.twitter.com/emmyYtzkTC
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) September 28, 2025
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On the defense sealing the game in overtime
“Great job by them getting off the field. Four-down stop. Just relentless effort from them. I love the competitive makeup of our football team. Defensively, there’s a lot of really good things throughout the course of the game. There’s a lot of things offensively, we didn’t maximize our opportunities. But at the end of the day, this is a win for the good guys in orange and appreciate our fan-base. They were awesome tonight.”
On what Joey Aguilar changed to have a great fourth quarter
“There’s some things that we missed early in the football game, middle of the football game. One of the great attributes of Joey is he’s super calm in the storm. He’s the same guy every drive, every play. Love that makeup of him and this football team. Really proud of them.”
