Tennessee's Josh Heupel Put on a Coaching Clinic Last Night vs. Oklahoma

Tennessee's Josh Heupel Put on a Coaching Clinic Last Night vs. Oklahoma
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[@tnmoc3070]

Coach Heupel trust Nico, he just knew the OL couldn't protect him enough at the edges with a couple of starters injured. So instead of risking him getting hurt, he played the odds that the defense could handle things and it worked.

[@mikerichardson8983]

No i don't think he doesn't trust Nico, I think he doesn't trust two back up linemen. Because the two fumbles by Nico was not on him, it's on the two backup tackles!

[@davidbills84]

I’m saying!! We are completely ignoring that we hit the vulnerability (lAcK oF oLiNe DePth) which specifically tackle is only 3 deep; we didn’t want Nico getting blasted for more fumbles. It was nothing about trust. Great adjustment by UT and WOW what a win

[@dustinyoung7720]

Heupel knew the field was trash because he knows they do that stuff. He knew we were down 2 starting O-linemen. HE TRUSTS NICO! He trusts him enough to protect him at all costs!

[@constantineandreu9377]

And here I thought Josh's play calling was trash.....

[@dustinyoung7720]

@@constantineandreu9377 and here you would be a casual fan

[@dustinyoung7720]

@constantineandreu9377 who won the game again? Weird how that works. On the road, blue blood program, prime time ABC game, national attention and who won?

[@constantineandreu9377]

@@dustinyoung7720 Aren't their more injuries on artificial turf then the real stuff?

[@constantineandreu9377]

@@dustinyoung7720 You nailed it! I'm a Nico Supporter💪 when he leaves I follow😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@abkelley74]

He coached that 2nd half like a NFL coach. We have a 3 score lead, our D is playing well, let's end the game.

[@DetailerJoe]

He didn’t let Nico throw because we were down to our third string tackle and the O line couldn’t block. And of course he was running clock to get out of the game.

[@TadayoriOverAll]

That's correct...it has nothing to do with trusting Nico...it's more of not trusting the line..Ol Jon boy may have CTE

[@haroldfarquad6886]

I think he trusts Nico plenty well, it's the backup tackles he doesn't trust... and for good reason. Dayne Davis has been a liability in every game he's ever been in. If they're dropping 6 and Nico still doesn't have time to throw because the tackles are getting beat, it doesn't matter how much trust Huepel has in him. Nico threw three deep dimes last night, two to Bru and the TD to Thornton... that looks like trust to me. Huepel knew the defense would keep OU under 20 points, and there was no reason to put the weight on Nico, risk having a worse game with more turnovers, or risk more injuries on that trash field. I think Nico will be there to ball out this season, Huepel played it smart and didn't force him to do something that wasn't necessary last night. I would have liked to see the offense open more, but we got a two score road win against a top 15 team with no drama and the game never in doubt. Sign me up for that all year.

[@nolatone]

Who the F is Austin Stanley?

[@mattpleasant8658]

Jonathan Crompton. I think they messed up the overlay of the name.

[@jumpshot4360]

Good thing Austin Stanley isn’t on our coaching staff dude is negative as hell. If I didn’t watch the game and saw this, I’d think we lost!

[@danielknight2499]

If you can win and not show your playbook I think it’s smart

[@davidkirkland5125]

Down two tackles I think had a huge impact on the play calling. Two strip sacks will always make you more conservative. Especially when you D is playing lights out.

[@papateeins.c.155]

I disagree with Coach not trusting Nico. We lost both starting OT's and the line wasn't holding up. With our lead and the Defense playing lights out. He pulled the reigns back. We need our offensive line to get healthy. He also, by doing this took the refs out the game. He wasn't going to allow anything to take the game out our hands.

[@JeffMadden-c3u]

Ummm we were down to 2nd & 3rd string tackles. He was running for his life. Not going for the 4th & 2 & kicking the feild goal. Did it cross anyone's mind if they didn't make it there's a major momentum shift in a away environment! Trust CJH he's been there & done that .

[@tracyscott2550]

Bye the way. Great show and you guys do a good job.

[@JeremyHutchings-x5c]

Even with that defense we wouldn’t have won that game with Milton.

[@vwm8534]

So true. I see comments all over that he took it easy on Oklahoma but I think he just tried to run the clock. He didn't want to take chances. I thought that was very good coaching.

[@ArthurCallahan389]

It had nothing to do with trusting Nico! If he didn’t trust anyone, it was the young O linemen filling in for the injured ones! They showed a couple times they couldn’t protect Nico’s blind side and Heupel knew that! He showed discipline that you only see with the greats by going against his offensive nature and putting his confidence in the defense to win this game! Coach Heupel showed us how lucky we are that he’s here! The way he won this game may have some people grumbling, but they’re shortsighted & not looking at the overall picture! The way he did this has put some worry in other teams that wasn’t there before this game! It also gained Volunteer football a lot of respect that wasn’t there before.

[@jsock8380]

Not huepel protecting nico.... Yall tried to open the playbook.....but 2 FF changed that plan....

[@ArthurCallahan389]

And here I was thinking it was because we had injured O lineman & the 2nd and 3rd string lineman weren’t able to protect Nico’s back. Hmmm 🤔

[@jsock8380]

@@ArthurCallahan389 no excuses when your at the top... I understand it is new territory for you... I mean, when was the last time Tenn won the SEC? Nobody can remember. You had to have voted for Ross Perot or something to have the ability to remember back then ....

[@michaelpaige3398]

One game at a time.

[@SteveMcbrain]

It's not that he doesn't trust Nico he doesn't trust the o line

[@Enviropinions]

I was at the game. It looked to me like Nico was nervous, the way any redshirt freshman would be in his first start on the road in an SEC game. Took him some time to settle in a bit. He holds the ball too long. He takes too long to get through his reads. The bigger problem in this game was lack of separation by our WRs. But the only way to grow Nico is give him game time and play within Nico's limits along the way. I was heavily critical of Coach in his first couple years because he still called plays like he was still at UCF-not nearly conservative enough. Points are way more valuable in the SEC. This game Coach called perfectly in this situation given the context.

[@bryannunley2179]

The bottom line in this game we had a LT and RT problem lance heard was very mist in this game Especially in passing situations

[@brucemcclure9521]

I think you are 💯 % right. I think he is babying him and thats not a bad thing. This is his 4th start and he will get better all year. If everything goes good we could see 15 or more games this year. I think his breakout game will be the bama game.

[@jeremylyle2501]

Im no OU fan here but Heupel put on a clinic is bout the dumbest headline ive heard in some time...thats jus delusional talk!!!!

[@PatrickWashington-t7f]

Due to the anemic playcalling by Coach Heupel was not due Nico it was because OU showed up with a different defensive scheme than Heupel was prepared for along with the two backup lineman

[@joemcguire-j2s]

Nico ‘s FIRST SEC game - 😮

[@vwm8534]

What Justin Stanley said about Nico is making sense . I mean all you have to do is look across the sidelines of the kid in Norman and see what can happen. He might very well be protecting Nico as long as he can. I mean Oklahoma defenses for real so why risk injuries why risk throwing a Pick 6 you know

[@joemcguire-j2s]

He has only played in five games - patience

[@DavidAdams-u1j]

Absolutely 💯 wrong. How many games could we have won the past decade if we could play smash mouth football and close a game out but lost, it just was not there. That was a thing of beauty what Tennessee did playing smash mouth football and closing a game out when you had a lead but they are getting to your QB, genius to me

[@danielanthony9621]

Interesting info. Hadn't really thought about it that way.

[@davidstephens5173]

Austin don't seem to upstand that we had the game WON at the half. Why would we throw the ball around and give them a chance ?

[@ImaITman]

Charlie not sure why you think Nickels wasn't an absolute dog??? He did a freaking amazing job compared to college football QBs. I mean the dude performed against arguably the best defense in the nation - I don't know what the heck more you could ask?????

[@dcooper91g]

Why “show what you got” if not needed?? I think Heup is playing the long game and keeping some things in his bag for florida, Bama, uga

[@jimestes6693]

I don’t think it’s a trust issue, I think it came more from a protecting Nico against OK’s defense especially while missing Lance Heard.

[@tracyscott2550]

I think he trust Nick but playing in that environment Hype just 4:28 choose a different strategy. Plus starting right tackle was out. If Tn had starting rt it may of been different. He absolutely trust Nico.

[@georgiavol1602]

Oklahoma's QB is what happens when you put it in a young QBs hands too quick and you don't let them develop.

[@ugkingpatb9808]

I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t trust Nico he knew that his Defense could and would be able to control the game no need to open up the playbook if you don’t have to because the competition is only gonna get tougher so let’s not put everything on film GO Big Orange

[@mikeannas5689]

Y'all are unfair to question the coach. You 2 need to get on a field and call plays, but all you 2 will be is backseat coaches

[@jeffhorton2843]

Wrong. Coach didn't trust the 2 tackles to open up the play book. They couldn't protect Nico so he just ran the ball all night against a stacked front going all out to stop the run. If we didn't lose the 2 tackles we would've passed the ball a lot more which would've opened up the run.

[@SPACEB0YZER0]

We had two lineman out

[@adambarnes3653]

Very nice commentary from former Vols QB Austin Stanley

[@sainvol]

Is that Quinten Dormady? I know I have seen him before 😆

[@ricksaunders8074]

CLINIC really they won by 10 Still a win

[@Volstitans8]

He doesn't trust our second string tackles... Crompton low key a hater to UT QBs... Nico will be a top 10 pic....

[@nickcomer8354]

No, he 150% trusts Nico. Hes letting that kid take throws that he wasnt letting Joe do. OU had great defense last night anf they were able to put some pressure on Nico at times.... It was obvious by the half that TN won. Josh instead of gassing us the entire way and playing very aggressive, (which I wish hed done) slowed things down in the second half and went into cruise control and played conservative to make sure we limited injuries and walked out with the W. He chose to not open up the playbook because there just wasnt a real need to by the second half.... It has nothing to do with not trusting Nico. TN was playing lights out in D last night and he knew they werent going to be able to make that comeback.

[@rncgsu]

Was the coaching clinic to have the kicker with the most offensive points?

[@websurvivor]

Yes! Yes! Yes! We've seen enough of Nico off the field talking to get a feel for his personality. He doesn't have that "alpha" attitude. Coach Heupel knows it and I think he's making Nico his project. We are seeing that relationship between the two of them, especially with those two big video highlights with Nico giving Coach the game ball. Right now Coach Heupel is dripping experience to Nico. Letting him get a taste of success and struggling, but not letting him get overwhelmed with either or get emotionally demolished. A good comparison is what happened with Oklahoma. Venables put everything on his quarterback and just let him get emotionally demolished. And now on Sunday we're hearing all the chatter from the Oklahoma side of things about the fallout from that. I think what we're witnessing is the work of a football genius from Coach Heupel in handling what he has with Nico.

[@Hat-san]

You're thinking way to deep into this. Heupel fully trusts Nico. What he doesn't trust is 2nd and 3rd string o-linemen which is what caused both fumbles from the edge where we were weak. Soon as we had a lead and Heupel realized we could ride it out with our defense he switched the game plan to play conservatively and protect Nico. It's exactly the reason we ran it so much in the 2nd half.

[@websurvivor]

@@Hat-san "You're thinking way too deep into this." Lmao. That's why Josh Heupel is a coach and you aren't.

[@drew7099]

Agree, he showed zero confide in Nico. Matter of fact, he showed no confidence in the entire offensive unit and you could see by their expressions and head turns that it confused them. Their self confidence tanked last night.