Tennessee coach Josh Heupel met with the media today to offer his final thoughts ahead of Saturday's game at Pitt.
A few notes:
– Heupel said it was a good week of preparation for his team. "Excited to get on the plane tomorrow and go play a really good football team," he said.
– Heupel on improving from week-to-week: "You can make your biggest jump from Week 1 to Week 2. You can make huge jumps – just in communication, understanding expectations. Your young players that are in your program for the first time, from the lead up to kickoff to what it feels like and looks like through the course of a game. As a staff, you continue to get in sync and work through some of those issues."
– Heupel on Pitt: "We understand what we're getting into. This is a really good football team. They're tough, they're physical, they're smart, they're mature. We've got to go and not do anything extra ordinary, but do the ordinary things at a really high level."
– Heupel said that his players understand the type of fight it's going to take to beat Pitt. He said they've prepared just like it's any other game, and his team is mature in doing that each week. "It's been a really good week," he said.
– Heupel spoke highly of Pitt's defense, in terms of how good they are at stopping the opponent's run game. He said the Panthers have big, long, physical players in their front seven and they're going to load the box. "We've got to stay in more manageable third downs against them," he said.
– Heupel on his familiarity with Pitt and Pat Narduzzi: "There's familiarity on both sides of it for both programs. It gives you some understanding of the personnel, I think, as much as anything. Schematically, things are going to change. That's played out in the previous three contests."
– Heupel said last year's loss to Pitt has nothing to do with how this year's will play out. "The first play doesn't dictate what happens on the second play of the game," he said.
A few notes:
– Heupel said it was a good week of preparation for his team. "Excited to get on the plane tomorrow and go play a really good football team," he said.
– Heupel on improving from week-to-week: "You can make your biggest jump from Week 1 to Week 2. You can make huge jumps – just in communication, understanding expectations. Your young players that are in your program for the first time, from the lead up to kickoff to what it feels like and looks like through the course of a game. As a staff, you continue to get in sync and work through some of those issues."
– Heupel on Pitt: "We understand what we're getting into. This is a really good football team. They're tough, they're physical, they're smart, they're mature. We've got to go and not do anything extra ordinary, but do the ordinary things at a really high level."
– Heupel said that his players understand the type of fight it's going to take to beat Pitt. He said they've prepared just like it's any other game, and his team is mature in doing that each week. "It's been a really good week," he said.
– Heupel spoke highly of Pitt's defense, in terms of how good they are at stopping the opponent's run game. He said the Panthers have big, long, physical players in their front seven and they're going to load the box. "We've got to stay in more manageable third downs against them," he said.
– Heupel on his familiarity with Pitt and Pat Narduzzi: "There's familiarity on both sides of it for both programs. It gives you some understanding of the personnel, I think, as much as anything. Schematically, things are going to change. That's played out in the previous three contests."
– Heupel said last year's loss to Pitt has nothing to do with how this year's will play out. "The first play doesn't dictate what happens on the second play of the game," he said.
