As Josh Heupel stepped into the room for his postgame presser at Camping World Stadium, the present and future of his Tennessee offense sat to his right, and the present and future of his Tennessee defense sat to his left. He was a happy man, and rightfully so.
For all the talk of the couple dozen or so Tennessee scholarship players who weren’t available in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, the ones who were available did just fine.
A pair of potential superstars — freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava and sophomore edge defender James Pearce Jr. — propelled the Vols to a 35-0 pasting of Iowa in Orlando, and Heupel was all smiles while sitting between those two after the game.
The 21st-ranked Vols played without more than 20 scholarship players, but the ones who played provided more than enough firepower to firmly set aside the 17th-ranked Hawkeyes — a flawed but solid team that won 10 games and the Big Ten West title.
Iowa didn’t have a single significant player opt out of the game. It didn’t score a single point in the game. Between the three-minute mark of the first quarter and 14-minute mark of the fourth quarter, the Hawkeyes had nine possessions that produced a total of 66 yards.
All three times it looked like Iowa might score, the Vols slammed the door with authority. The Hawkeyes took advantage of a short field on their second possession of the game and took the ball to the Tennessee 4-yard line, but sophomore safety Andre Turrentine — starting for just the third time in his career — brilliantly read the eyes of quarterback Deacon Hill and intercepted him in the end zone to keep the game scoreless. Iowa then put together a couple of first downs to push the ball near midfield early in the fourth quarter before Pearce dropped back into coverage, intercepted Hill and raced 52 yards down the sideline to put the game away. The Hawkeyes then mercifully removed Hill from the game in garbage time and put together a 53-yard drive with athletic freshman quarterback Marco Lainez doing most of the damage with his legs. That that drive got near the red zone, but Tennessee then recognized that Lainez’s legs were the only threat on the field, and the Vols forced a turnover on downs.
Those were the only three times Iowa came close to doing anything offensively, and Pearce and Co. extinguished them all.
Iowa’s offense is what it is, and the Hawkeyes are offensive coordinator-shopping for a reason. They don’t have a lot of dynamic players on that unit, they’re not as good as they usually are up front and they don’t scheme their way around those deficiencies. They’ve been historically bad on that side of the ball this season, and they were outscored Monday by a Tennessee defense playing without several key players — but one of the players available was Pearce, who’s the most talented edge rusher the Vols have had since Leonard Little or Shaun Ellis. Pearce scored one touchdown on his own and set up another when he sacked and stripped Hill, giving Tennessee the ball at the Iowa 2-yard line.
Tennessee was just as makeshift offensively as it was defensively, but one of the players available was Iamaleava — an absurdly gifted young quarterback who met the moment in the first start of his college career. Iamaleava wasn’t spectacular, but he didn’t need to be spectacular. He just needed to manage that game for the Vols to win it, and he managed it magnificently, given the circumstances. Tennessee was a bit sloppy out of the gates, but the Vols settled in and played one of their cleanest games of the season. And Iamaleava was the one running the show.
Everyone knows Iamaleava is a talented player. He’s 6-foot-6 with a lightning-quick release, dynamic athleticism and plus arm strength. We knew that. That’s why Iamaleava was ranked where he was as a prospect. What we didn’t know was how well he could manage a game. So far, so great on that front. He stepped into the breach against a statistical beast of a defense, and he completed 12 of 19 passes for 151 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions, and he added 27 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. And Tennessee’s offense was penalized just twice for a total of 15 yards, with those flags coming on consecutive plays on the Vols’ first possession.
Heupel was more conservative than usual, both with his play-calling and his fourth-down decisions, but that was the right horse for that course. Tennessee, as handicapped as it was, was still the more talented team on that field. Iowa wasn’t winning that game without help, and the Vols didn’t help the Hawkeyes. They didn’t take many vertical shots against a defense designed to prevent vertical shots. They took their medicine when they needed to take it. It was calm, measured and mature. And it still led to the most points Iowa had allowed all season — and as weak as the Hawkeyes’ schedule was, they did play Michigan, which is one win away from a national championship. It’d probably have to vacate that title before a speck of dust could fall on the the trophy, but still.
Tennessee didn’t want to lose four games this season, and it didn’t expect to lose four games this season, but it did lose four games this season. It was, on balance, a disappointing season, and Heupel, to his credit, has already acknowledged that on multiple occasions. Even if Heupel believed there were understandable reasons for the season going the way it went, he’s smart enough to keep those thoughts to himself with cameras and microphones in a room.
Considering where the proud Tennessee program had fallen in recent years, though, it’s kind of nice to be sitting here dissecting a 9-4 season as a disappointment. When a 9-4 season feels like a bit of a bummer, your program is in or near the right spot. And there’s plenty to like about this program’s future.
Tennessee lost some players to the transfer portal, but the same could be said of every program in America, and none of the Vols’ losses feel irreplaceable. And remember, that portal door swings both ways, and Tennessee has added some nice pieces to supplement another solid recruiting class. And more pieces could be added in the coming weeks. Some important pieces could return to Knoxville for a final season of college football, too, thanks to the Covid-eligibility exception.
Making too much of any non-playoff bowl game in this era is foolish, but Iamaleava’s demeanor in Monday’s win was a tangibly positive development. He never once looked rattled. He dropped a shotgun snap, but he calmly picked up the ball and prevented a bad play from getting worse. He went about his business. He didn’t force throws. He took a couple of sacks he didn’t need to take, but he’ll learn from that, and it’s worth mentioning that he secured the ball every time. And the next time he steps on the field for Tennessee in a real game, he’ll have more explosive weapons around him, and he’ll almost certainly have a deeper and healthier offensive line in front of him.
Tennessee has a big offseason ahead of it, but you don’t have to squint too hard to see the Vols heading into next season as contenders. They have questions they’ll need to answer in the coming months, but solutions don’t seem impossible. They need to get better up front offensively. They need to be more dynamic on the perimeter offensively. They badly need to upgrade the back end of their defense. None of those things are layups, but they’re not halfcourt shots. Help is coming. It just needs to be molded and put in position to succeed. From there, a little love tap from lady luck would go a long way, and Tennessee has arguably earned that. The Vols had too many injuries to players they couldn’t afford to lose this season. If they can build a deeper roster and get better bounces, they could be right there.
We don’t know everything we need to know, but we do know Tennessee has premium talent at premium positions. That’s a good place to start. And that’s why Heupel feels the way he feels.
