BATON ROUGE, La. — Opportunity. University of Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel repeated the word more than once during Saturday afternoon’s postgame news conference after his ever-improving, eighth-ranked (and climbing) team soundly whipped No. 25 LSU inside a sober and somber Tiger Stadium.
The word was used in describing a receiver corps that beat a second straight nationally ranked Southeastern Conference opponent without its top target — Cedric Tillman’s ankle injury did not allow him to make the trip — torching the Tigers secondary for 231 yards and a pair of scores through the first three quarters.
It could have been used in detailing how senior JJ Crawford filled in at the all-important left tackle spot for Gerald Mincey, who was a late scratch from the starting lineup. UT’s offensive front did not allow a sack, although part of that credit goes to Hendon Hooker’s Houdini-type escape ability.
The word certainly should have been used in differentiating Saturday’s special teams unit — which directly led to Tennessee’s first 10 points — from the one that had allowed costly scoring chances by its previous two nationally ranked opponents.
Shortly after the Florida game two weeks ago, the second win over a ranked opponent despite special teams miscues — a punt blocked by Pittsburgh and a late onside kick recovery by Florida — Heupel addressed the shortcomings by admitting, “We’ve got to win that phase of the football game this week.”