Coach Josh Heupel said he made a mistake by not calling a timeout in the final minute of Tennessee's 19-14 loss to Arkansas.

Heupel’s error came with 35 seconds remaining in the game.

Nico Iamaleava scrambled and completed a 42-yard pass to Dont’e Thornton to the Arkansas 25-yard line.

The game clock stopped momentarily at 35 seconds as the officials spotted the football. But when it began ticking again, UT wasn’t ready for the next play.

Offensive linemen were walking down the field. Iamaleava was looking desperately to the sideline for the play call. And the offense looked out of sorts.

The Vols used 13 precious seconds before finally snapping the ball again. They had two timeouts remaining at the time.

On Monday, Heupel admitted his mistake when asked if he should’ve called a timeout after Thorton’s catch.

“In hindsight, yep, for sure,” Heupel said. “As I recognized we weren’t immediately ready, I thought about going to a timeout. Then I thought we were ready to get the ball off in the next couple of seconds.

“Every timeout at the end of the game creates a different scenario where you’re not pushing the ball into the end zone or forced to push the ball into the end zone. So, yep, absolutely.”

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"No matter what happened in the previous week, you've got to move on," Heupel said. "Guys were good (in practice and meetings on Monday). They took the information and had a good day on the practice field. We have to prepare the right way just like every single week."

That was far from Tennessee's only error on final drive

UT mismanaged the clock throughout that final drive. On the play before Thornton’s catch, Iamaleava scrambled for an 8-yard gain but didn’t reach the first-down marker.

Heupel could’ve called a timeout then. Instead, it cost the Vols 15 seconds of game clock before the next play.

UT essentially wasted its final timeout. It used it just before the final play, when the clock was already stopped because of an incomplete pass on the previous play.

Iamaleava made UT’s final mistake of the game when he ran out of bounds after time expired rather than attempting a pass into the end zone.

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.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Josh Heupel: Tennessee coach admits he messed up at end of Arkansas game