Vols gearing up for final quarter of season starting with New Mexico State

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee is hoping for a happy homecoming on Saturday inside of Neyland Stadium. The Vols will be taking on New Mexico State in their first game after losing to Oklahoma two weeks ago. Coming out of the team's bye week this past Saturday, head coach Josh Heupel is excited to see his team back in a game scenario. "I want to see growth," Heupel said in his media availability on Monday. "That's a lot of different things in a lot of different areas. This is our next opportunity. Play hard, play smart for 60 minutes and play with discipline. That's alignment, assignment, eyes, keys, technique and go execute. Defensively, win the line of scrimmage and get off the field. Do a great job on the back end, matching things out. Offensively, the line of scrimmage, play with execution out on the perimeter. And special teams, go win." No. 21 Tennessee (6-3) will be taking on the Aggies for the first time ever. New Mexico State carries a 3-6 record into this week's contest, and is just 1-5 in Conference USA. They are coming off a 24-21 home loss to Kennesaw State. New Mexico State is in the midst of a four-game losing streak, but have been in most every game with an average margin of defeat of just eight points during the stretch. However, they find themselves a heavy underdog against the Vols while trying to keep their hopes of a bowl game alive. Meanwhile, UT finds itself in a potential look-ahead spot with SEC rival Florida on deck for its final road trip of the regular season. Heupel, though, is urging his team to take the rest of the year one game at a time "Man, this is our next opportunity to play," he said. "There's a lot of areas that we've got to get better in. We've got good work in the middle part of last week and this is our next opportunity. What happens after, that's after, you can't control any of that. So it's the same thing we've talked about consistently in our program, all phases of the year, control and win right now." The Vols will be looking to see their defense have a strong performance against a New Mexico State team that has struggled on offense this year. Tennessee enters play 73rd in FBS in third-down defense, 105th in first downs allowed, 113th in scoring defense, and 97th in total defense. The Aggies, though, are 64th on third-down conversion rate, 104th in first downs, 109th in scoring offense, and 123rd in total offense. UT's offense, though, hasn't been much of a problem, throughout the season. The Vols are currently on pace to score the second-most points per game in a season in program history. They are averaging 43.6 points each week, only trailing the Hendon Hooker-led 2022 Vols' pace of 46.1 points per game. Much of that has been spearheaded by Joey Aguilar and the passing attack, as they boast the number one passing attack in the SEC on a yards per game basis. Redshirt freshman Braylon Staley has emerged as one of Aguilar's top targets, as he enters Saturday with 52 catches, 703 yards, and five receiving touchdowns. Those marks have seen Staley get named to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List and as a semifinalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year. "We expected him to play at a really high level," Heupel said. "You know, that was part of our decision-making in the offseason as a staff. I say that as a young guy, how he grew throughout the course of the last season, during the regular season, his playoff prep, I expected that he would take another jump. "When we got back in January, his focus, his preparation, we expected him, because of that growth and how consistent he was every day, to play at a really high level. Mike's in that same boat, too. How both of those guys came back." Tennessee will kick off the final quarter of the season on Saturday at 4:15 p.m.