It wasn’t that long ago when Tennessee needed any win over a quality opponent to build some confidence on the football field.
In Monday’s weekly news conference, fourth-year Volunteers coach Josh Heupel was asked about guarding against overconfidence. The fourth-ranked Vols are off to a 4-0 start heading into Saturday night’s date at Arkansas (7:30 on ABC) and have won those games against UTC, North Carolina State, Kent State and Oklahoma by the average score of 54-7.
Tennessee will enter Fayetteville leading the nation in scoring offense while ranking second in scoring defense. The Vols top the nation in total defense, yielding just 176.0 yards per contest.
“The right place to be is right here, right now — being in the present,” Heupel said. “You can look at the scoreboard from this past weekend and really every weekend across America and realize that you have to be an elite competitor every single day. You’ve got to prepare the right way, and that’s why it’s important that you have a routine. You have to practice with great urgency.
“You’ve got to have the same competitive makeup and the same competitive DNA every single day, because the separation in this league has very small margins. You’ve got to win in those margins.”