Tennessee football fell short in its game against Oklahoma, losing 33-27 in Knoxville. Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar completed 29-of-45 pass attempts for 393 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in the contest. Afterward, he met with the media.
He was asked about his picks, the defense’s performance, moving forward and more.
Here’s what he said.
More From RTI: Everything Tennessee HC Josh Heupel Said Following Loss Against Oklahoma
On the defense’s performance
“Awesome. Defense went out there and did what they had to do. Offensively, we have a lot of stuff to clean up, but defense went out there and balled out.”
On if he saw confusing things from Oklahoma’s defense
“They were trying to disguise coverage and they did a good job on that. Offensively, we did good, but obviously not good enough, so we got to go back to the drawing board.”
On how different Oklahoma’s defense was
“I wouldn’t say crazy different. They like to get after the quarterback, so they had a little more pressures. But, other than that, they’re just rolling into coverages and attacking the quarterback.”
On the momentum swing of Oklahoma’s scoop-and-score
“A turnover is always a big momentum change. We were on a roll and they made a good play, so they took momentum. Turnover always turns over for momentum so I’d say it is what it is, you know?”
On what he saw on his two interceptions
“One before halftime, just kind of forced it downfield. Trying to stay in the pocket and make a throw while getting hit, just kind of sailed it. The first one, they did a good job of just disguising right there. Rolled down, went into Cover One, safety rolled over to the field. They got me on that one. Got me on the first one and then second one just tried to stay in and take a hit and sailed the ball.”
On why Tennessee couldn’t establish the run
“Just all the pressures that they bring. They try to twist the d-line a lot and try to confuse everybody all around. That’s pretty much it.”
On if Oklahoma did anything they didn’t expect
“They didn’t do anything I didn’t expect. We prepared for everything. They just did a great job, as they do, attacking the quarterback, bringing pressure and trying to make us make quick reads.”
On if it hurts more that it was self-inflicted mistakes
“A lot. Especially on my part, turned the ball over three times. The strip sack and two interceptions. To know those mistakes of just reading the defense and getting to the next read for me personally, obviously, hurts a lot. Put my team in a better position to put up points and the defense gave us turnovers and offensively, we didn’t execute on those. To go back and see those mistakes that I can clean up just make it hard and frustrating but you just got to watch it and flush it.”
On the message to the team with three losses
“Just keep fighting. We’re blessed to have three more games. Just got to take it week-by-week. College football is crazy. Our next focus is our next opponent.”
2 Responses
thanks for the great game vols! , put your nose to the grind stone & take this loss out on the next team
Josh H. must not know the history of Bill Battle. Tennessee fans deserve better from him. If he wants a lengthy career at UT, he needs to be brave and fire the offensive and defensive coordinators.
Obviously, he has losses against Georgia, Alabama, and Oklahoma. He will probably lose to Florida and Vanderbilt. It seems since the Ohio State loss last year, his ability to coach at this level does not compute with his 9-million-dollar salary. He is not worthy of any more time at UT, but Danny White doesn’t have the guts to remove him.