Josh Heupel expresses hope for Alabama rivalry to continue after scheduling changes

Thanks to conference realignment, there are two new schools joining the SEC. With that, the conference’s current scheduling model is going to change, and when it does, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel hopes that the Volunteers will still play rival Alabama.

As Heupel explained, the rivalry matters to the fans and it deserves to continue.

“Man, I think this is a great rivalry and it’s important to our fan base,” Josh Heupel said. “I’m sure it’s important to their fan base too. And it’s one that is special. Just, it’s a unique, unique game and a unique setting.”

Last season, Tennessee beat Alabama for the first time since 2007. That 15-game winning streak for Alabama was the longest that either team has had in the series. The Volunteers and Crimson Tide first played in 1903 and have played annually since 1928. Alabama leads the all-time series, 58-39-7.

“So obviously I think the league, with everybody that’s coming in, there’s a lot of factors that go into it and how they schedule, certainly hope so,” Heupel concluded.

As announced for 2024, the SEC will only play eight conference games. For now, that includes Alabama and Tennessee in Knoxville. However, if the model moving forward is eight opponents, then it will likely include one permanent rival and seven rotating opponents. For Alabama, that permanent opponent would almost certainly be Auburn.

A nine-game conference schedule offers more freedom to save those rivalries, but for now, it doesn’t look like that’s the immediate direction the conference is going.

On the Alabama side of things, the Crimson Tide will likely lose several rivalry games in the new scheduling model. However, that’s a change that Nick Saban recently lamented.

“I always think that that’s happening all over college football, where you’re going to have these great rivalry games that players, fans, everyone at programs sort of look forward to that are not going to be able to exist on a year-to-year basis,” Saban said. “I think there’s a lot of people that are disappointed in some of those things.”

For now, Alabama and Tennessee still play annually and will renew their rivalry on Saturday.

Josh Heupel compares how the Third Saturday in October to Red River

Today, Josh Heupel coaches for Tennessee. However, he played for and was an assistant coach at Oklahoma, giving him a unique insight into one of the SEC’s incoming schools. It also allowed him to compare major rivalries that each program has.

“This is a special one. The proximity. Everybody knows the importance it has always had… This rivalry is extremely special not just in college football but for these two programs too,” Heupel said.

“It’s different than that game. That game is always played at a neutral site. So, it’s a little bit different. But it makes it extremely special because you are bouncing back and forth between being home and on the road.”