Tennessee's win over Oklahoma was more about Josh Heupel's future than his past

Norman, Okla. — Tennessee’s football team celebrated in the locker room while head coach Josh Huepel spoke with reporters to break down the game he had to have been waiting 10 years to win.

You could hear the music. 

Ain’t no love in Oklahoma
Just the whistle of a long black train
You’ll know when it’s comin’ for ya 
Riding’ in on the wind and the rain 

Those are the lyric’s to Luke Combs’ country hit “Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma,” which couldn’t have been a more appropriate way for the victorious Volunteers to honor their coach. They were dancing while he was talking. Heupel, who developed as a coach in Norman before coming back here in Orange and leaving victorious, couldn’t have drawn up a better ending.

Heupel won a national title at Oklahoma as the team’s quarterback in 2000, but he was fired by Bob Stoops as an assistant coach at the end of the 2014 season. It turned out to be the right move for Oklahoma because it led it to Lincoln Riley. But that set forth a path for Heupel to go to new places and find a different offensive philosophy, to become the head coach he is today.

Who is that coach? One who now has a 4-0 Volunteers team that properly welcomed the Sooners to the big, bad SEC. 

Tennessee 25, Oklahoma 15. Final. And the score was much closer than the game. 

Quarterback Nico Iamaleava, one of the emerging stars in this sport and the man leading Tennessee into a season in which it hopes to compete for a national title, gave Heupel the game ball after the final seconds ticked off the clock.

“This game was never about me coming back here, not for this football team” Heupel said. “They also understood that this one was a little different for me personally, but that’s not what it was about.” 

Heupel could have gloated or taken veiled jabs at his former program, but the truth is, he has a lot of love in his heart for Oklahoma. He became a winner here. But in reality, Heupel knows what the rest of the country is learning with every passing week: this Tennessee team is legit. This game was another step toward proving that.

So while the game ball will probably find its way into Heupel’s office in the near future, the reality is this Volunteers team is just getting started on a pathway toward bigger things than heart-warming wins, game balls, country songs or even vengeance. This team is coming for it all. 

In Oklahoma Stadium on Saturday night, you had two unbeaten teams with young hot-shot quarterbacks. They both were five-star prospects in the On3 Industry Rankings in the 2023 recruiting class. This was Oklahoma’s first game in the SEC. Heupel’s return grabbed headlines. This was going to be revelatory for both teams for a lot of reasons. Mainly, who has what it takes to be great this year?

Tennessee won in every possible way. Iamaleava threw for 194 yards in a touchdown. The touchdown was a perfectly-placed dart that pierced the air, landing in receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr.‘s hands downfield before he took it 66 yards to the house.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold, turned it over three times and was benched for Michael Hawkins with his team trailing 19-3 before halftime.

It wasn’t only the quarterbacks. After Arnold’s third turnover with Tennessee leading 12-3, the Volunteers took over at the Oklahoma 46 with a little more than 5 minutes remaining in the first half. Tennessee ran the ball eight times in a row with running back Dylan Sampson, who capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run. And Tennessee did it without starting tackle Lance Heard. 

This is a team that can run five wide or two-tight end sets. It’s versatile. It can win shootouts and it can win closely, contested games by moving the ball on the ground. That brings us to its defense, led by one of the best pass-rushers in the country in James Pearce. The defense is physical and disciplined. The Sooners had no answer for the Volunteers’ defensive front. 

“This is the most versatile that we’ve been because of our personnel,” Heupel said. “Nico having a great command and understanding of everything that’s going on gives you that luxury.”

This isn’t the first time Tennessee has been good under Heupel. Two years ago, behind quarterback Hendon Hooker and receiver Jalin Hyatt, the Tennessee offense took the country by storm. The Volunteers were one of the most fun teams to watch in 2022. But that came crashing down when it went to Athens and got destroyed by deeper, more talented, more athletic Georgia team in early November. 

Tennessee still has to play Georgia and Alabama this year, but this team feels deeper, more athletic and, yes, more versatile. This team has the look and feel of one that can win against the big dogs of the SEC. The Volunteers match up athletically and have the pieces in place to do something bigger than just be the entertaining college football story of September and October.

This is the 12-team College Football Playoff era, too. It can drop one — or even both of those games — still make the postseason and try to go on a run. The expectation internally, though, is that it can win those games. And it’s just not naive optimism from players who feel good about themselves.

It’s real.

On the video board before the game, Oklahoma played a montage introducing “the new era of Oklahoma football.” Sprinkled in the hype video were clips from the past, notably one of Heupel taking a knee in the national title game 24 years ago before celebrating the championship. People cheered reliving that memory with Heupel standing on the opposing sidelines.

Heupel means a lot to Oklahoma. Fans respect and adore him because when you win national titles at places like this, it’s never forgotten. There’s still a picture of Heupel from that national title game hanging in the press box. That’s forever.

Yes, Heupel got to relive the past. He may even take personal satisfaction of showing up the place that felt he wasn’t good enough 10 years ago. Heupel is a person, too.

Asked after the game what his favorite moment was from his return to Norman, he smiled and said: “Walking off the field with a win.”

That must have felt nice.

But he’s right, that’s not what this game was about.

This game was about taking one more step toward becoming someone Tennessee fans never forget, too.