Josh Heupel addresses importance of rivalry win over Florida

Tennessee‘s win over Florida on Saturday not only kept the Vols’ record clean, but also boosted Josh Heupel’s profile in his second season in Knoxville. The Volunteers head coach discussed what the rivalry win meant for the team after the game.

“This was the next one on our journey this year here,” Heupel said. “The kids prepared and competed in a great way to find a way to get a win. It’s huge for our fan base. The past is the past for the guys, coaches and players inside our program, but it’s something that obviously our fan base is aware of. I’m really proud of our guys, man, they compete and today was a great example of that.”

Heupel and the Vols’ win on Saturday broke Florida’s five-game win streak in the series.

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The Vols have this weekend off but have another opportunity at a benchmark win in Week 6. Tennessee takes on LSU on the road. Then, they play a highly anticipated Week 7 matchup at home versus No. 2 Alabama. Both teams could still be undefeated at that point and it carries big post-season implications.

Tennessee’s 38-33 win over Florida this weekend lifted them to No. 8 in the latest AP Poll. The Tennessee offense is currently fourth in the nation in points per game, scoring an average of 48.5 per contest.

On top of the team’s early-season accolades, starting quarterback Hendon Hooker has also elevated his name in the Heisman Trophy race. He racked up 349 passing yards and an additional 112 rushing yards in his three-touchdown day versus the Gators.

Paul Finebaum names Tennessee team to watch

ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum made an appearance on KJM this week and made a bold statement about the Volunteers, where Keyshawn Johnson asked him which team in college football is not being talked about enough and should be receiving more attention.

“I think it’s Tennessee, Keyshawn I’m sure you’ve seen this team, this is an absolute joy to watch,” Finebaum said. “They beat Florida the other day, it was a sloppy win in the end, and I don’t think they got the credit because Florida has been devalued. But they had lost 16 out of 17 to the Gators, so at Rocky Top that’s a big deal.”

Kansas is also having an improbable turnaround under second-year head coach Lance Leipold, but Finebaum believes Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel deserves his recognition as well for the job he’s done in Knoxville.

“And I know Lance Leipold’s getting a lot of attention, and he deserves it in Kansas, but when you look at the two-year job Josh Heupel was done, it’s hard to find anyone who’s done better,” Finebaum said. “I mean he inherited a program that was an absolute disaster, it looked like they were about to throw away the key and put Tennessee out of business after Jeremy Pruitt ran it into the wall.”

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this report.