Coach Josh Heupel said Tennessee football players must choose to not commit costly penalties.
The 14th-ranked Vols (2-0) had their most penalized game of Heupel’s tenure in their 45-24 win over Georgia Tech. And they have the fourth-most penalty yards per game among 138 FBS teams through two games.
Heupel said he talked to the team about penalties during a video review of the game on Sept. 14.
“I addressed it today, I went through all of (the penalties)," Heupel said. "Our football team's got the ability to grow into a good football team if we make the choices to do the right things. And I presented the video of it today, and our players have got to make a choice to not hurt the football team.”
Tennessee committed 14 penalties against Georgia Tech,
tied for the most in a single game under Heupel. And it amassed 142 penalty yards, the most of his tenure.
Three false start fouls on offense and three pass interference penalties on reserve cornerback Tim Merritt were frustrating.
But the worst were three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties when UT players lost their composure in the fourth quarter while finishing off the win. Wide receiver Mike Matthews, safety Dejuan Lane and defensive lineman Ethan Utley were each flagged for those fouls.
The Vols need to clean up their penalty problem before starting SEC play. They’ll play Kennesaw State (1-1) on Sept. 19 (7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium to cap the nonconference slate.
Where Tennessee football ranks in penalty yards
Tennessee had seven penalties for 60 yards in a 56-9 win over Furman in Week 1.
Through two games, UT averages 101 penalty yards per game. Only Syracuse (117.5 ypg), UT-San Antonio (115 ypg) and Connecticut (103 ypg) have averaged more in the national rankings. And the Vols have the most penalty yards in the SEC by a wide margin, with LSU averaging 88 yards as the next-to-last team.
Heupel’s teams are usually among the most penalized in college football. UT ranked 106th in fewest penalty yards in 2021; 124th in 2022; 126th in 2023; 119th in 2024 and 70th in 2025.
However, Heupel’s teams often have been plagued by pre-snap penalties because of their fast pace on offense. Some of those are inevitable. But unsportsmanlike conduct penalties are preventable, and Heupel believes that's a decison the Vols must make.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Josh Heupel said Tennessee football penalty problem is a choice
