Football anxiety spread quickly through Tennessee’s fan base Sunday afternoon after news broke of Lincoln Riley departing Oklahoma to become Southern Cal’s coach.
Oh no. Not again. Please.
The fear of the domino effect and another coaching search was real and understandable, especially considering UT coach Josh Heupel’s Oklahoma background.
Tennessee has had five coaches in the past 12 years. The chaos began in 2009 when a protracted coaching search resulted in Lane Kiffin leaving suddenly and unexpectedly for the same job Riley is now filling.
As much as the immediate reaction was deeply rooted in UT’s recent history, it also said something for Heupel. In his first season as the Vols’ coach, he took a roster depleted by the transition from former coach Jeremy Pruitt and won seven games, qualifying for a bowl game.
Furthermore, he took a Model-T offense and remodeled it into a sleek, high-powered, zero-to-60 model that produced 466 points, the third highest single-season total in program history.
With the right side of the offensive line seemingly under repair throughout Saturday’s regular season finale against Vanderbilt, the Vols still rushed for 285 yards and had two running backs top 100 yards. One of them, Jaylen Wright, was named SEC freshman of the week on Monday. He rushed for 112 yards and scored a TD.
Fans are anxious, in part, because Heupel has them excited about the future. Here’s some key developments in reaching this point:
-QB switch: We’ll never know what would’ve happened if Joe Milton hadn’t gotten injured against Pitt on Sept. 11. But he did get hurt and was replaced at quarterback by Hendon Hooker, who was ready for the opportunity.
With two TD passes on Saturday, Hooker reached 26 for the season, which ranks seventh in program history. He passed former standout Heath Shuler, who had 25 in 1993.
Hooker and Joshua Dobbs are the only two Tennessee QBs to top 2,500 yards passing and 500 yards rushing in a season.
-Missouri rout: After losing their SEC opener at Florida decisively, the Vols weren’t favored against the Tigers in Columbia, Mo. Then they began with 28 first-quarter points The Vols finished with 458 rushing yards, the most in a game in 70 years.
The nature of the victory unpacked the potential of Heupel’s offense.
- Sticking up for the fans: Heupel chose his words carefully after the conclusion of UT’s game against Ole Miss was marred by fans throwing bottles and other debris onto the field. He focused on the prevailing atmosphere rather than the incident.
“I know that’s very few of our crowd members,” he said. “For most of the football game, that was an unbelievable atmosphere to see Vol Nation show out the way they did. From the Vol Walk to the stadium, to the atmosphere inside the stadium, I thought was awesome.”
Heupel scored some points by sticking up for the fans, who were getting trashed otherwise.
-A big win: Beating No. 17 Kentucky 45-42 in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 6 gave Heupel a signature victory. The Wildcats already had vanquished Florida and LSU.
The Vols crammed all of their points into 13 minutes, 52 seconds of possession time and then made a defensive stand at the end to secure the upset.
It was Tennessee’s first road victory over a Top 20 opponent since 2006.
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who covered University of Tennessee athletics from 1988-2019. He can be reached at ddanfleser3@gmail.com.