Tennessee football's Nico Iamaleava drops 'angry' reaction to Georgia loss

11/17/2024 11:28 AM

Tennessee football quarterback Nico Iamaleava was not happy after his team dropped a key SEC game against Georgia. The Volunteers lost to the Bulldogs on Saturday night, 31-17.

The loss left a bad taste in Iamaleava’s mouth. The young play caller managed to compete despite being in concussion protocols recently.

“There’s a lot of frustration, a lot of anger. We put a lot of work in to come out with a win in this game, and yeah, we came up short, didn’t play smart in the second half and it’s going to sting,” the quarterback said, per ESPN. “We’ve got to let it sting and just learn from this.”

Tennessee football needed the win to keep up in the SEC standings with Georgia, as well as Texas and Texas A&M. The Volunteers are now 8-2 overall, and 5-2 in the league.

Tennessee didn’t play well against Georgia

Tennessee football gave up 453 total yards of offense to Georgia Saturday night. That included 347 passing yards, which ultimately sunk the team. Georgia’s Carson Beck threw two touchdowns, gashing the Volunteers secondary.

Iamaleava struggled to keep pace when Tennessee’s offense was at work. The quarterback finished the game with forgettable stats; he passed for just 167 yards and no scores. He did add 24 rushing yards on 12 carries. Despite those stats, the quarterback won the respect of his head coach.

"That guy's a warrior. Young quarterback that'll continue to get better. Guys around him wanna play for him. Tough guy," Volunteers coach Josh Heupel said, per Tennessee football reporter Riley Haltom.

Iamaleava is having a strong season, despite a lack of experience. The quarterback has 2,046 passing yards this year, with 11 touchdown passes. He’s posted four interceptions for the squad.

Tennessee can still have a special season, but the Volunteers need help in order to make the SEC conference championship. There’s not much hope now that the team can get to the College Football Playoff. The team has games remaining against UTEP and Vanderbilt.

“We don’t control what we don’t control. We control our preparation. We can control how we get ourselves ready to go play next Saturday,” Heupel said. We’ve got a good football team in that locker room, man. It’s a good football team. We’ve got to coach a little better, got to play a little better.”

Tennessee plays UTEP on Saturday.

The post Tennessee football’s Nico Iamaleava drops ‘angry’ reaction to Georgia loss appeared first on ClutchPoints.