Randy Smith
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is headed to the old home place this weekend. Heupel played for Oklahoma and led the Sooners to the 2000 national title...the same year he was a runner-up in the Heisman Trophy race. Heupel's 6th ranked Tennessee Volunteers will take on 16th ranked Oklahoma Saturday and the Vols are a seven-point favorite. The trip home for Coach Heupel is bitter sweet. He spent nine seasons as the Sooners offensive coordinator before being fired in 2014. His offense was ranked 20th in the country that season and defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, the brother of Sooners' head coach Bob Stoops, put up the 55th best defense in the nation.
Bob Stoops fired Heupel and kept his brother.
That firing from his alma mater left a sour taste in Heupel's mouth and relations between him and Stoops has been less than cordial. But...that's all in the past. From Oklahoma, Heupel was at Missouri for a while then he was hired at Central Florida and put up a record of 28-8 before being hired at Tennessee in 2021. At Tennessee Heupel has coached two teams to the top ten and has a record of 29-12 for the Volunteers. He's in his fourth season as head coach and the Big Orange faithful is more than happy with him.
Prior to Saturdays' game in Norman, Heupel will be honored by the Sooners for his playing and coaching career. Maybe that will further ease the hard feelings over Heupel's firing. Current Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables has been more than complimentary of Heupel and his Vols. First of all, Venables said Tennessee's offensive line could be the best he's ever seen. He's also impressed with Nico Iamaleava, the Vol's quarterback. However, Venables and Heupel are long-time friends as Heupel was the Sooners' quarterback while Venables was Oklahoma's defensive coordinator when the Sooners won the national title.
Obviously Venables is impressed with Heupel's offense and why not? The Vols are tops in the country in scoring and second in total offense, out scoring the opposition 191 to 16 in starting the year 3-0. He's also impressed with the Tennessee defense as the Vols haven't surrendered a touchdown in the last 16 quarters dating back to the 35-0 win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl in January. I don't think there is any doubt this Tennessee is the best to wear the orange in many years and it's due to Josh Heupel. Unlike others I don't feel he's after revenge in Norman this weekend, but a Tennessee win over the Sooners would feel awfully good on the return flight to Knoxville.
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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com