If the Music City Bowl was the preliminary kickoff to 2026 as Josh Heupel said, he and Jim Knowles have a lot of coaching to do.
The head coach needs to quickly find a quarterback and be sure the offensive line toughens up before September.
The new defensive coordinator must start at the beginning with a far more physical philosophy, fundamental tackling practice and a different scheme in the secondary. He may even want to teach defensive backs to look around for the football on pass plays.
Problems on display Tuesday night in chilly Nashville were similar to those in big games all season – all losses. Some disappointed fans undoubtedly concluded the program is in decline. The end isn’t near but the 8-5 season hurt.
Tennessee lost to Illinois, 30-28, because the offense under-performed and the short-handed defense couldn’t stop a long drive when it mattered most. The Illini planned the finish smartly. It ran the clock down to the closing seconds. David Olano kicked a 29-yard field goal as time expired.
The Illini won because it was stronger and made fewer mistakes. Generally speaking, it deployed safeties deep and kept the heat on Joey Aguilar. He was sacked four times. The Vols finished with a season-low 278 yards of offense. The winners dominated time of possession and gained 417 yards. It punted once.
Heupel admitted he was disappointed.
“Didn’t play clean enough in any phase of the game to get a win. Give credit to Illinois. We continued to compete. Just didn’t get it done in the end.”
He called the roll – offense, defense, coaches – all together. He repeated his disappointment.
Heupel didn’t talk like a loser. He declared the Vols will “be back and ready to roll in ‘26 – I promise you that. We’ve got to be better – absolutely. But there’s a lot of really good, young talent in 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 into the portal and get some guys, too. Talent is one thing. The development of it is the second part. But there’s connection and work mentality and mental toughness, and every trait that it takes to win.”
Heupel said he feels really good about what he has coming back, what he has coming in.
“We’ve got to go get some guys in the portal. And then we’ve got to go build a football team.”
The Vols had some bad plays – defensive gap integrity errors, three personal foul penalties, another routine field-goal miss, an Aguilar fumble for an Illinois touchdown.
There were extenuating circumstances on that third-quarter turnover. Left tackle Lance Heard stepped on the foot of left guard Shamurad Umarov and lost his balance. Linebacker Joe Barna got a free pass to the quarterback from the blind side.
Joey didn’t lose his head or a leg but he lost the ball. It rolled or was kicked into the end zone. Linebacker Leon Lowery recovered.
Tennessee had three and a half positive segments. DeSean Bishop ran for 93 yards and two touchdowns. Star Thomas was determined and productive in his final game as a Vol. Aguilar completed 14 of 18 mostly short passes for 121 yards. He ran for a touchdown. If it matters, he moved up in the record book.
Joakim Dodson #89
The only real drama happened with about five minutes remaining. Tennessee reduced an Illinois drive to a field goal and was trailing 27-21. Freshman wide receiver Joakim Dodson fumbled the kickoff, found the football, broke to the outside, got a block and hurried 94 yards to a go-ahead touchdown.
Alas, he scored too soon. Illinois kept the ball the remainder of the game and won at the end.
Key date: Transfer portal opens Friday.
Record book adjustments: Bishop finished with 1,076 rushing yards. A thousand is a magic number. Aguilar passed Hendon Hooker and Tyler Bray and moved into third place all-time in single-season total yardage with 3,666. He trails Joshua Dobbs and Peyton Manning.
Scoring summary:
Tennessee 7 0 7 14 – 28
Illinois 7 3 14 6 – 30
- Tenn: Aguilar 7-yard run (Gilbert kick).
- Ill: Bowick 15 pass from Altmyre (Olano kick).
- Ill: Olano 30 field goal.
- Ill: Lowery recover fumble in end zone.
- Tenn: Bishop 1 run (Gilbert kick).
- Ill: Altmyre 2 run (Olano kick).
- Tenn: Bishop 12 run (Gilbert kick).
- Ill: Olano 28 field goal.
- Tenn: Dodson 94 kickoff return (Gilbert kick).
- Ill: Olano 29 field goal.
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
Marvin has correctly touched every base and reached home with what happened last night. Optimistic words have been spoken. Well and good. A couple of points: Number one Indiana has the largest living alumni base of any college. Vanderbilt has decided to join the crowd. Texas teams turn oil into money. Georgia and Alabama aren’t going away. LSU has Kiffin, so what’s not to love. Even if we are greatly improved by fall, pulling even still means somebody wins, somebody loses. The era of buying players and poaching coaching is upon us…and there is no promise it will always be fun. Filling that big stadium and making a lot of noise might still be the edge in some games…so guess we have to keep doing our part.