Shortly after the Tennessee Volunteers' road victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks, Josh Heupel spoke to the media about his team's quarterback situation. While George MacIntyre played decently enough to earn another starting opportunity on the Third Saturday in October, Heupel would not commit to it. One would think if Faizon Brandon was healthy enough to play, he might have started.
"Just with what he was dealing with, he really didn’t rep during the course of the week. George knew on Monday that he was going to start this week," Heupel said about the quarterback situation after the win over Arkansas. "We’ll continue to play it by ear as we keep going. The strength of one room can never be one guy. I know most of you guys are tired of me saying that, but that’s the truth of it.”
Heupel tried to play it close to the vest coming in, but nobody was buying it. Brandon did not play well against Texas or Auburn prior to sitting out all of the Arkansas game. Heupel might be hyping up the depth of his quarterback room, but that could fall on deaf ears here quickly. Not only are Brandon and MacIntyre quite inexperienced, but Ryan Staub does not offer much as the third-stringer in the room.
Tennessee does not need a quarterback controversy ahead of Alabama
With major rival Alabama coming to town next week, these same sort of quarterbacking head games are not going to fly against a high-quality head coach in Kalen DeBoer. While Alabama has had its struggles on the road in Knoxville of late, the Crimson Tide are the better team coming in. Although they could have had a quarterback controversy coming in, DeBoer wisely went with Keelon Russell.
For Tennessee to come out of the Third Saturday in October with an impressive home victory over Alabama, the offense will need to be much sharper for a full four quarters than it showed against Arkansas. It may have been a road game for the Vols, but they escaped Fayetteville by the skin of their teeth with a win over arguably the worst team in the SEC. Alabama is among the SEC's elite.
Right now, Heupel and his staff have to look at the tape and clean up all the things the Volunteers got wrong versus the Hogs. Ryan Silverfield might be at a talent disadvantage in seemingly every game his team plays, but it does play with a great deal of heart. Tennessee was only able to win this game because its rushing attack took over in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. It was too close a call.
Ultimately, Heupel does not have the luxury to be cute with his quarterback situation. Tennessee is on the precipice of vying for early College Football Playoff contention. While a loss to Texas is not a bad loss by any means, the Longhorns just lost to an inferior Oklahoma Sooners team in Red River. This is a long season, but Heupel does not need to make it any harder for Tennessee moving forward either.
Heupel should go with the quarterback who gives the Vols their best chance to win in MacIntyre.
Add us as a preferred source on Google