Heuepel has no protest against early open date with UT rolling

No Southeastern Conference football team has reached its open date quicker than Tennessee, which is just four games into an already memorable season but has this upcoming weekend off before heading to LSU on Oct. 8.

The Volunteers were eight games into last season before getting a breather.

“You never get to control it,” Tennessee second-year coach Josh Heupel said Saturday night after the 38-33 outlasting of Florida, “and you never know if it’s going to be the right time.” Vanderbilt also has this Saturday off but is five games down with seven to go, having opened Aug. 27 with a successful trip to Hawaii. Eleven of the 14 SEC programs have their open dates this season after their sixth, seventh or eighth games.

This is the most challenging portion of Tennessee’s schedule, with the Vols facing Florida, LSU, Alabama, Kentucky and Georgia over a six-game stretch that spans seven weeks. The Vols face UT Martin on Oct. 22, the Saturday after they host Alabama and just before a two-game stretch against visiting Kentucky and the trip to Georgia.

“For us, it is the right time,” Heupel said. “We get an opportunity to have some guys catch their breath and hopefully get a little bit healthier, and that’s in all three phases of the game.”

Coaches tend to tout open dates the way they praise every signing class for filling necessary needs, but who am I to question Heupel right now? The Vols are 4-0 with Heupel coaching them and 4-0 with me watching them.

Fifth-year senior receiver Cedric Tillman would be the biggest health question between now and the trip to Baton Rouge, and maybe this is the best time given the most recent result. Adhering to the 24-hour rule might be just a little bit tougher this week.

“You celebrate and see the fans and how

happy they are,” receiver Bru McCoy, the Southern California transfer, said Saturday night. “Everybody in the locker room, including the coaches and the staff, just all kind of soaked in the moment, so we enjoyed it as best we could. Right now is a time to just be in the moment.

“Next week, we will be forwardfacing, but right now we get to enjoy it. There is no better feeling than celebrating with the guys you put in the work with every day.”

••• Tennessee jumped three positions to No. 8 in Sunday’s latest Associated Press poll, the highest ranking for the Vols since also being No. 8 in 2006.

Georgia and Alabama maintained the top two spots in the latest AP rankings, while Kentucky moved up to No. 7. For those who are curious, Kentucky and Tennessee haven’t met as top-10 teams since Robert Neyland’s Vols defeated Bear Bryant’s Wildcats in the 1950-51 seasons.

LSU, which travels to Auburn this week before hosting the Vols, produced quite the statistical suffocation during Saturday night’s 38-0 blanking of New Mexico.

Brian Kelly’s Tigers racked up

633 total yards while holding the Lobos to 88, and LSU tallied 28 first downs while holding New Mexico to two.

••• Alabama’s 55-3 dismantling of Vanderbilt coupled with Georgia’s struggles in a 39-22 downing of Kent State has resulted in the Crimson Tide taking over this week as the SEC’s stingiest defense. They have yielded just two touchdowns through their 4-0 start and are allowing 7.3 points per game, with the Bulldogs giving up 8.0 a contest.

“We haven’t given up a lot of explosive plays, and we’ve played pretty well in the red zone,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said Saturday night. “I think this group plays really well together. The front seven and the back end are tied together for the most part, and we’ve got experienced players at linebacker and in the secondary. I think that’s really helpful.

“The one thing we haven’t done is create a lot of turnovers, which is something we keep harping on all the time. I’ll take this kind of defense without turnovers, but I would like to see us get more turnovers and win the turnover battle in games, because I think that’s very significant in winning and losing.”

The Tide have won 23 consecutive meetings over the Commodores, with Alabama having outgained Vandy by 1,098 yards in their past two matchups.

The remarkable story that has been Georgia receiver Ladd McConkey experienced its first hiccup Saturday, as the former North Murray High standout fumbled away a punt return and a catch against the Golden Flashes.

“I was more upset with the punt,” Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said. “Fumbles happen, but the punt was more of a decision. He made a mistake to field a punt and not fair catch a punt. You need to make good decisions when the ball is in transfer in kicking situations, and he didn’t make a smart one there.

“Nobody feels any worse than Ladd, and we need Ladd if we’re going to go where we need to go. Ladd is a big part of our offense, and Ladd is a big weapon for us.”

Smart added that McConkey has been battling a foot injury and has not been receiving the necessary volume in practice.

•••

Since joining the SEC in 2012, Texas A&M is 10-1 against Arkansas in the Southwest Classic following Saturday night’s 23-21 win.

••• Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz described Saturday’s 17-14 overtime loss at Auburn as “devastating for our locker room,” and with good reason.

Harrison Mevis entered this season having made 40 of 45 field-goal attempts, an 88.9% clip, and had the ball positioned in the middle of the field for a 26-yard attempt on the final play of regulation that he pushed to the right. That would be followed by an overtime in which Mizzou dropped an interception, jumped offside when Anders Carlson badly missed a 44-yard field-goal attempt and then fumbled the ball into the end zone before crossing the goal line.

Auburn won a game in which it managed a woeful 217 total yards.

“There have been some crazy games I’ve been in, but none like that,” Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said. “We’re going to have to figure out how our execution can get better, and that’s the beauty of having another week to prepare for another SEC opponent.”

Auburn won its 31st consecutive homecoming game to improve to 84-8-1 all-time in those contests. This one will be remembered way more than most.