Tennessee football exchanged touchdowns after touchdowns with Georgia. But head coach Josh Heupel received a barrage of criticism after falling to Georgia 44-41. With fans calling him out after the wild loss.
One fan ripped Heupel for playing it safe toward the end — by opting for a field goal with a narrow lead.
“Tennessee fans are gonna blame the kicker for the loss but Josh Heupel playing for a field goal up five versus Georgia is what cost them the game,” a fan posted on X (formerly Twitter).
The Volunteers missed a 43-yard attempt in regulation. Quarterback Joey Aguilar guided a late drive before Heupel threw the field goal unit out. Tennessee still had three timeouts left during the drive — which Heupel never used. One fan called him out for not calling a timeout.
“Josh Heupel got scared,” were some of the words another fan said during that sequence.
One final fan blamed Heupel for losing the game — pointing out his play-calling during that sequence too.
Tennessee, Josh Heupel squandered big lead versus Georgia
Worse for the Vols and Heupel? Georgia erased an early double-digit lead.
Tennessee raced to a 21-7 advantage off three combined Aguilar touchdowns. He set the tone with a four-yard scoring run. Aguilar later hit Chris Brazzell not once, but twice on strikes of 72 and 14 yards.
Then the Bulldogs exploded with a 20-0 run. USC transfer Zachariah Branch scored on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Gunner Stockton to spark the rally. Kicker Peyton Woodring booted two field goals from 20 and 48 yards. Josh McCray scored as well off a one-yard running touchdown.
Brazzell, though, placed the Vols back in front thanks to his 56-yard reception. Braylon Staley later responded to a late Georgia lead by scoring on a 32-yard reception. Max Gilbert eventually built the lead to 38-30 after a 48-yard FG.
Georgia, however, outscored the Vols 14-3 the rest of the way. And likely will drop Tennessee out of the top 15.
