Tennessee football’s 2025 season ended in disappointment on Tuesday night, falling 30-28 to Illinois on a walk-off field goal from the Illini in the Music City Bowl. Afterward, Vols head coach Josh Heupel met with the media to give his thoughts on the game.
He was asked about his offense, defense, seniors and more.
Here’s what he said.
More From RTI: Four Quick Takeaways: Tennessee Football Rounds Out Frustrating Season With Music City Bowl Loss
Opening statement
“Disappointing result. Didn’t play clean enough in any phase of the game to get a win. And give credit to Illinois. But, certainly, a lot of things that we gotta do better. Did like the way the guys, after a bad start in the second half, how they came back and responded to that and continued to compete, just didn’t get it done in the end. So offense, defense, special teams, coaches, all together so disappointed in that. But hard to say goodbye to some of these seniors. Look at some of those guys that suited up, chose to be here to play with their teammates. Got a ton of respect for all of them and who they are and what they’ve done inside of our program. And extremely proud of them and challenge our guys that, obviously everybody’s disappointed, but, this has gotta be something that you take with you through the off-season and use as motivation and give us a chance to get better and get stronger and we’ll be back ready to roll in ’26. I can promise you that.”
On defense in the first half vs. second half
“It was a condensed, shortened game. I think offensively had three possessions in the first half, minus the one with maybe 20 seconds left. Got a couple of fourth-down stops. At times, defended the run well, and then, at times we didn’t, gave up a couple runs, were gapped out and just misfitted on the backside of it and the last drive was a part of that. And then quarterback hit us with a couple of draws, too.”
On why the offense didn’t have as much success as usual
“Well, again, it was a condensed game. Three possessions in the first half. Second drive, I think we came up with a sack or maybe, I think it was a sack on that one. Third drive, kind of stumbled around a little bit. So, got the run game going and what they were doing and there was space to run the football and took advantage of that a little bit better in the second half. And just didn’t play as clean as we’re capable of and we have to do that.”
On losing close in 2021 in the Music City Bowl, as well
“I think in this game, but, you know, throughout the course of the season, it’s a series of one plays that make a difference. And there’s a few of them that will be burned into my brain for a long time. And, I think the disappointment of tonight or the disappointment of any of the games during the course of the season, but in particular tonight, it’s gotta chance to be the fuel that you use as motivation of starting tomorrow, when we get back in January. And, it’s a competitive game, gotta be on the right side of it and you gotta fight for it every single day. And that’s what I talked to our guys about in the locker room tonight.”
On how big of a job it will be to upgrade the roster in the portal
“We got to get better, absolutely. But there’s a lot of really good, young talent inside of that locker room. One of, if not the youngest teams in our league. There’s an influx of guys that we just signed that are highly talented. Yes, we have to go in the portal and get some guys, too. The talent is one thing, the development of it is the second part of it. But there’s a connection and work mentality and mental toughness and every trait that it takes to go win has got to be developed, as well. And, I feel really good about what we have coming back, what we have coming in, and then we got to go get some guys here in the portal and then we got to go build a football team, which is what you have to do every year when we get back in January.”
On untimely penalties this season
“It’s accountability in everything that you’re doing, every single day. And we’ve worked on those things and a couple of critical penalties that you just mentioned. There’s some other ones where, you know, we’re giving 15 yards away, one during the course of the night, too, that changed the way the game was played to a position, too.”
On DB Jalen McMurray playing through injury
“He talked about the guys that were in that locker room that wanted to play and compete with their brothers and play one more time with the T on the side of their helmet, special to have that group do that. Jalen, I’m so proud of how he’s grown since he got here and as a football player, but outside of it, as well. And wanting to play in this game, gets dinged up here in the middle of December, really questionable whether he would even come close to having the opportunity to play, does everything in his power to get back.”
“Yesterday, I’m not sure you thought you were going to play. And said, ‘Man, I want to go through warmups and figure it out.’ And great teammate, great football player, and he’s a football player. He loves playing the game. For him to be able to go through it today, to make a decision that he can play and then go play the way that he did, I think says everything that – well, it is everything that you would want in a player as a coach. Couldn’t be more proud of him.”
On Bryson Eason greeting teammates off the field
“I gave him a huge hug in the locker room. Another guy that’s grown tremendously from the first day that I stepped into that team room. They didn’t know me and I didn’t know them. And just grown as a man in life and grown as a football player, great teammate, cares about the guys around him. Dom Bailey, same thing, Tyree West. Just a phenomenal group that has helped us do a lot of really special things at Tennessee. Go back to the first year we were here and how that year started. Come a long way.”
