Paul Finebaum recalls remarkable turnaround at Tennessee

One of the most anticipated college football games in Tennessee football history is coming up this weekend as they prepare to tangle with the undefeated Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia. The showdown between the top-ranked and the third-ranked team in America is expected to be one of the best games of the 2022-2023 college football season. What has been lost amidst the hype and hoopla surrounding the amazing 8-0 run the Vols have put together this season, is simply how far the program has come in the past 2.5 years. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum discussed the incredible turnaround and how he and many others did not like the Josh Heupel hire at the time.

You can listen to the audio from 6:17 to 7:15 in the YouTube video below or read the transcription below the video.

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Paul Finebaum discusses why he and many others believed the Josh Heupel hire was a bad one a few years ago

“Well, it just seemed like a very safe, unimaginative hire. Unimaginative because the AD there had previously hired Heupel at Central Florida. And I think most people realized that you couldn’t go out and get a big name in that moment. It was already January. But, it just seemed like this program was going to crater. Same day that came out [Heupel being hired] a couple players transferred to Oklahoma. A couple more bailed out. And it looked like, literally the end of the world for Tennessee and to think that, what are we now, two and a half years removed from that. And Tennessee is playing in one of the biggest games in school history. I’ll try to spare you the cliches because the story writes itself. It’s remarkable to think about that moment in time,” Finebaum said.

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It simply couldn’t be any more exciting of a time to be a Tennessee Volunteer football fan. These are the moments that college football fan bases dream of and if you’re lucky enough to experience something like it, you might as well enjoy it while the ride still lasts. Georgia opened up as 12.5 favorites for Saturday’s contest. That line was surprisingly high in favor of the Bulldogs, but has since come down to 8 as of Wednesday evening, according to VegasInsider. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see that line move even lower as we approach closer to kick off in the coming days.