Josh Heupel shares mindset after being on top of first College Football Playoff rankings

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel shared how it felt to see the Volunteers ranked No. 1 in the debut College Football Playoff rankings this quickly into his time at the helm. The Volunteers sit atop everyone else after the first CFP rankings of the season were released on Tuesday, placing an even bigger spotlight on their upcoming matchup with Georgia in Athens this week.

Josh Heupel on managing College Football Playoff rankings

While speaking on the ESPN broadcast of the rankings reveal, Heupel was asked about being the No. 1 program in the nation in just his second year with Tennessee — something that Heupel admitted he didn’t plan for specifically.

“I don’t know that we placed a time frame on it,” said Heupel. “I think that’s one of the things that actually had our players buy into what we’re doing. We never set a ceiling. Obviously our guys’ habits have allowed us to play really consistently here in the early part of the season. There’s a long ways to go. We obviously have a huge test this week in Athens, Georgia. But I love competing with this team every Saturday.”

Heupel was then asked how he manages expectations and the mindset of his team after being named the top team in the nation, and staying motivated and hungry.

“We talked about it earlier in the week knowing that the rankings would come out. Didn’t know where we would be ranked but figured we’d be somewhere near the top. At the end of the day, one of the things that our players have done here is we’ve tried to enjoy the journey. And take moments of pause to reflect and enjoy what our players have built here. They built this. And three years ago it didn’t look like this. But this is a proud tradition and a massive fan base that loves the Power T and they’re excited about the way our players are playing.

“Embrace it, they understand that the reason we’re in this situation is because of the way we prepare, the way we practice — and then we go play for each other on game day. And that’s gonna be the same message this Saturday.”

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The Vols coach then shared some love for his defense as the Tennessee team has become known as a high-octane offensive powerhouse. According to Heupel, his defense hasn’t even begun to hit their full stride.

“We continue to build this. You know, two years ago we were hit heavy by the Transfer Portal before I was hired. We continued to build our roster on that side of it and really believed in where we were going. We’ve got a great defensive coordinator in Tim Banks, a great staff. Our players have really bought in, and year 2 of our system they have a much better understanding of our schemes. They’re continuing to develop fundamentally. We are continuing to get better throughout the course of this season. We’ve been hit by the injury bug a little bit on the back-end here in the first half of the season. We really feel like this week we’ll be as healthy as we’ve been all season long.”

Tennessee’s ranking is a good sign if recent history is any indicator, looking at the last eight teams to debut in the rankings at No. 1. Of the last eight teams to begin the first rankings as the top team, four of them finished in the No. 1 spot, with only one team ranking outside of the top three in the year’s final rankings.