Quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s standout performance in Tennessee’s season opener has the 14th-ranked Volunteers feeling confident as they head into their game against No. 24 North Carolina State on Saturday night.
Coach Josh Heupel is warning his team not to get too confident before the Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charlotte.
“As a competitor you can live in what everybody was talking about last week, but the reality is you’re only as good as your next performance,” Heupel said.
Iamaleava set a school record with 314 passing yards in the first half and threw three touchdowns in his first regular-season start, leading the Vols (1-0) to a 69-3 victory over Chattanooga, which was ranked No. 8 in the Football Championship Subdivision at the start of the season.
Heupel praised his QB’s accuracy and ability to place the ball in tight spots during the opener. Still, a tougher challenge awaits against a Wolfpack defense that led the Atlantic Coast Conference with 17 interceptions last year. N.C. State coach Dave Doeren is not worried about his team being overconfident after their narrow win in Week 1 against Western Carolina.
The Wolfpack (1-0) struggled in the first half and trailed 21-17 going into the fourth quarter but scored the last 21 points of the game after improving their running game. They were twice stopped on fourth-and-1 by the FCS opponent.
Doeren said after the game that “you never apologize for winning a football game,” but the performance has made the Wolfpack a 7 1/2-point underdog.
He noted some nervousness from his team, which has 22 new players. Doeren hopes this will help them improve before facing the Volunteers.
“We were able to really test our guys,” Doeren said. “We didn’t know it would be a test like that. You just don’t know when you get in games like that what you’re going to see.
Obviously, some of what we saw is on us. We didn’t execute well enough, but what we were able to do is see how our guys handle adversity. So we are tested.”
