KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Two days out from the first road test of 2022, Tennessee football head coach Josh Heupel met with members of the media Thursday afternoon to wrap up availabilities for the week. The 24th-ranked Vols are deep into game prep for Saturday’s matchup at No. 17 Pittsburgh, which stands as the first ranked-on-ranked contest of the Heupel era.

Coming off a methodical 59-10 victory over Ball State to open the campaign, Heupel spoke to the progress a program can make from week-to-week early in the season.

“You can make your biggest jump from week one to week two. You should make huge jumps in communication or understanding expectations. Your young players that are in your program for the first time, from the leadup to kickoff, to what it feels like and looks like during the course of the game. As a staff, you continue to get in sync and work through some of those issues. It should be a week where you gain a bunch, but you can gain a bunch at any point during the season, too.

“Our work habits and our preparation have been really solid this week. We have to finish it the right way. 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 have to go, not do anything extraordinary, but do the ordinary things at a really high level.”

The programs enter the second meeting of the Johnny Majors Classic with a bit of familiarity. Saturday’s matchup with Pitt will be Heupel’s fourth time facing the Panthers in the last five seasons as a head coach.

“There is familiarity on both sides of it for both programs. It gives you some understanding of the personnel as much as anything. Schematically, things are going to subtly change on both sides of the line of scrimmage, and that has played out in the previous three contests. Being able to adjust during the course of the ball game based on the differences that you are seeing will be ultra-important in this one too.”

After a Friday walkthrough, Tennessee will board the plane for Pittsburgh and gear up for a nationally televised non-conference bout with the Panthers. The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC.

Heupel’s full transcript from Thursday’s press conference can be found below.

Tennessee Football Press Conference | Sept. 8, 2022

Head Coach Josh Heupel

Opening statement…
“Good day of preparation here for us. Excited to get on the plane tomorrow and go play a really good football team. It’s been a good week of preparation.”

On if it is true or coach speak that teams make their biggest jumps from week one to week two…
“A little bit of both. You can make your biggest jump from week one to week two. You should make huge jumps just in communication, understanding expectations, your young players that are in your program for the first time from the leadup to kickoff to what it feels like and looks like during the course of the game. As a staff, you continue to get in sync and work through some of those issues. It should be a week where you gain a bunch, but you can gain a bunch at any point during the season, too. Our work habits and our preparation have been really solid this week. We got to finish it the right way. We understand what we are getting into. This is a really good football team. They’re tough, they’re physical, they’re smart, they’re mature. We got to go not do anything extraordinary but do the ordinary things at a really high level.”

On the veteran leaders being locked in for this week…
“They understand the type of fight that it’s going to take during the course of the 60 minutes of play to win this football game. They understand this is a really good team that’s really mature. Is it something completely different as far as the way they approached last week? No. The more mature your football team is, they become really consistent in their preparation. It’s been a really good week in the meeting rooms to on the practice field. Our twos and threes being dialed in during our walkthroughs and making sure they’re getting every mental rep as well. Continue that preparation until kickoff, then you got to tee it up and go play.”

On what goes into calling the first 10-15 plays of the game…
“For us, ways that you feel like you can attack them based on what you’re going to see. For us to able put our personnel in a position to be successful, that’s from the offensive line to the skill guys, and certainly the quarterback as well. Our kids having an understanding in those first couple of drives – here’s some thoughts that we are planning on getting to based on what we anticipate seeing, and them having a great understanding of how to react to the different variables that they could potentially see during the course of those first couple of drives.”

On how Pitt’s defense makes it difficult on opposing offenses to run the ball…
“First of all, their personnel is big, long, athletic and physical, and I’m just talking front seven. I don’t care what formation you’re in, they’re going to load the box on you. That can be pre-snap, but on the snap as well. Those conflict players are tight and that’s why you got to strain. There’s a big difference early in a football game between a five-yard run and a two-yard run, and a lot of little things go into that. You’ve got to win 1-on-1s on the outside during the course of this football game, too, and that dictates how the game unfolds but certainly how you play in third-down situations. This a really good team in third-and-long and we have to try to stay in more manageable third downs against them.”

On how confident he is in his receivers in 1-on-1 situations with Cedric Tillman and Bru McCoy…
“We trust both of those guys. They are big, strong and physical, and play that way as well. It’ll be different than it was last week for those guys though. You’re going to see a bunch of press-man out on the outside and you got to be able to get off of their jam technique. You got to be comfortable with the body in your hip or on top of you the entire day and be ready to go make those competitive plays. But we do trust both of those guys.”

On advantages of having played Pitt in four out of the last five years…
“There is 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 subtly change on both sides of the line of scrimmage, and that has played out in the previous three contests. Being able to adjust during the course of the ball game based on the differences that you are seeing will be ultra-important in this one too.”

On players using last year’s game vs. Pitt as motivation for this season…
“Whatever gets them in the building and watching more tape, I’m all for it. Last year’s game has nothing to do with how this week plays out. The first play doesn’t dictate what happens on the second play of the game, either. Certainly, there is a sense of urgency and understanding of what we’re getting into, and I think that has led to a really good week, up until this point, of preparation.”

On slowing the tempo down offensively on third downs…
“Even when we play with our tempo, we are making sure that we’re getting things in the right direction. If you don’t, you have no opportunity to execute the way that you need to. For us, handling our tempo offensively will be a big part of this one. We’ve played them three previous times, and we are going to have to play in both situations, where the clock is stopped or after a penalty or stoppage in play and handle those situations really well, and we have got to be able to execute within our tempo, too.”

On the trust factor between Hendon Hooker and the coaches in the game planning process…
“I think the longer you’re with a quarterback and the more understanding of what you’re trying to do and why you’re trying to attack a defense that way, there is more trust from him too. If there’s something new that’s going into the game plan, he can understand the reason why behind it and probably feels more comfortable then he necessarily would when he is young inside of your offense. So, I think it is a two-way street. For us offensively, from coach (Alex) Golesh to Glen Elarbee to our entire offensive staff, coach (Joey) Halzle – I think we have a much better understanding then we did a year ago at this time (in) who is our personal, what can they execute and how do we put them into a position to be successful?”

On if the offensive and defensive lines know the challenge they face against Pitt…
“They understand the challenge that we’re up against on both side of the line of scrimmage.”