Tennessee football report card in 34-27 OT win at Pitt

Coaching grades

Offensive play-calling: C+

Yes, there were unforced penalties, Hendon Hooker had some overthrows, Cedric Tillman had some drops, and some players missed blocks. However, Josh Heupel and Alex Golesh still could have been better with their play-calling. They didn’t establish the run, and they didn’t use Jabari Small enough. Perhaps their best strategy was how they used Hooker in the run game.

Defensive play-calling: A

Tim Banks gave up one touchdown for dialing up a blitz, but that’s because Jeremy Banks got lost in coverage. Outside of that, he had a flawless performance. Two sacks were based on perfectly designed blitzes by defensive backs. One was a fourth down stop, and the other made it 4th and goal from the 20 in overtime to effectively win the game. He called a great game.

Overall head coaching grade: B+

Despite the play-calling issues, Heupel did a great job keeping Tennessee football poised. Those issues combined with the Vols not being ready early are why this can’t get an A-grade, but by every other metric, there’s no denying the value that the coaching brought to the table.

Another coach wouldn’t have kept his players so calm and poised amidst all the things that went against Tennessee football Saturday. Heupel did that, and while the other issues can’t be ignored, along with penalties, keeping them focused alone gives him an above average grade.