Tennessee football fans are allowed to celebrate Saturday’s 52-49 victory over Alabama all week long, or significantly longer if they so choose.
Not so for Volunteers players, who went back to work Monday morning. Tennessee, which improved to 6-0 and moved up to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press poll, steps out of Southeastern Conference play this weekend when UT Martin arrives as the Homecoming foe inside Neyland Stadium.
“Obviously from the outside in, everybody is excited about the win,” Heupel said Monday afternoon in his weekly news conference. “From the inside looking forward, we’ve got a lot of things that we have an opportunity to get a whole lot better at. The challenge for us is to become our best.
“We’re in the early stages of that, so the urgency, preparation and focus has to remain consistent, and that was the message to the players.”
Tennessee’s triumph over the Crimson Tide was its first since 2006, snapping a 15-year series skid in which 13 of the outcomes were decided by double digits. Saturday’s game was decided on sixth-year senior Chase McGrath’s 40-yard field goal as time expired, which was followed by fans rushing the field that resulted in a $100,000 fine from the SEC office.