Finebaum: Tennessee's Josh Heupel returning to Oklahoma will be 'a lot of revenge and emotion'
The Southeastern Conference didn’t miss its opportunity for an early-season storyline as Oklahoma joins the league next season. The Sooners first game in SEC play? A home date on September 21 with Tennessee and head coach Josh Heupel.
“I think it’s extraordinary,” ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said Wednesday night as the league revealed its new 16-team schedule on SEC Network, “because Josh Heupel, as many remember, was really ushered out of Norman, Oklahoma.
“There’s going to be a lot of revenge and emotion on his mind. But it’s also an opportunity for Tennessee to make a statement.”
Josh Heupel led Oklahoma to BCS National Championship in 2000
Heupel was an All-American, finished second for the Heisman Trophy and was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2000, when he threw for 3,392 yards and 20 touchdowns, leading the Sooners to a perfect 13-0 season and a BCS National Championship.
He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma in 2004 and was the quarterbacks coach for the Sooners from 2006-10 and added co-offensive coordinator duties from 2011-14.
Bob Stoops fired Heupel as Oklahoma’s co-offensive coordinator in January 2015, leading Heupel to stops at Utah State and Missouri as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
He became a head coach for the first time in 2019 at Central Florida and followed athletic director Danny White to Tennessee in January 2021. Heupel is 26-12 in his third season as the head coach of the Vols, leading the program to 20 wins over the last two seasons.
No. 21 Tennessee (8-4) will play No. 17 Iowa (10-3) in the Citrus Bowl on January 1 (1 p.m. Eastern Time, ABC) at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla. The Vols beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl last January, in the program’s first appearance in a New Year’s Six bowl game in the College Football Playoff era.
Tennessee and Oklahoma have played four times dating back to 1939
The Vols and Sooners have played four times dating back to 1939. Tennessee won the first game between the two schools, 17-0 in the Orange Bowl on January 2, 1939. Oklahoma returned the favor in the Orange Bowl in 1968, beating Tennessee 26-24 on New Year’s Day.
There was a home-and-home in 2014 and 2015 that Oklahoma swept, winning 34-10 in Norman in 2014 and 31-24 at Neyland Stadium in overtime in 2015.
The Vols led 17-0 early in the second quarter in Knoxville, before Oklahoma rallied behind quarterback Baker Mayfield, tying the game on a 5-yard touchdown from Mayfield to Sterling Shepherd with 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Tennessee had a non-conference game scheduled with Oklahoma for 2024, but the SEC told both schools to cancel the series with the Sooners set to join the league.
Oklahoma this season finished 10-2 and will play Arizona in the Alamo Bowl on December 28. The Sooners started 7-0, including a 34-30 win over Texas in the Red River Rivalry, before losing back-to-back games at Kansas and Oklahoma State.
Head coach Brent Venables has a 16-7 record as the head coach over the Sooners the last two seasons. He was Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and associate head coach from 1999-2011, before leaving to serve in the same role at Clemson from 2012-2021.
He was hired at Oklahoma in 2022 to replace Lincoln Riley.
