The Biggest Moment of Josh Heupel’s Career

Photo by Andrew Ferguson, UT Sports 

By Jon Reed

This is the biggest week of Josh Heupel’s coaching career.

He’s accomplished a lot as a head coach thus far. He had an undefeated season at UCF. He ended Nick Saban’s winning streak over Tennessee. He won an Orange Bowl. He returned home to Oklahoma and dominated his alma mater in a high profile game. He won a second straight home game against Alabama.

The stakes this week are higher.

The playoffs are on the line. A career of questions about how his teams struggle on the road can be put to bed and tucked in with a win. Redemption for the 2022 embarrassment down the stretch, both in the rain in Athens where his offense scored only 6 points for the first 54 minutes of that game, only scoring a touchdown during garbage time to cut the lead from 21 to 14, and in Columbia, South Carolina, where he was blown out by Shane Beamer.

Win and none of that matters. Win and you’re in the driver’s seat for Tennessee’s first ever appearance in the college football playoff and their first trip to Atlanta to play for an SEC title since 2007.

Standing in front of the Vols and Heupel breaking through is a Georgia team facing elimination.

And mortality.

Kirby Smart has to be pulling out his hair (that he assuredly gets cut at Walmart) following his team getting dominated by Ole Miss. It was a dream start: Georgia forces a turnover, sends the opposing starting quarterback to the locker room injured, and scores a touchdown to take an early 7-0 lead. Any other typical Smart led Bulldog team in the past rides that momentum to a blowout victory. Instead, this Georgia team got outscored 28-3 over the final 55 minutes.

This isn’t the dominant Bulldogs of the past. They’re flawed. The offensive line has real issues. They don’t have the same stable of 5 star running backs that they’ve seemingly had the past two decades. Their quarterback isn’t Stetson Bennett.

They are vulnerable, and that’s what makes this week so important for Josh Heupel.

In 2022, beating Georgia was a borderline pipedream for the Vols. A) it was raining. B) their defensive line was so dominant that the Vols were going to have to be near perfect with connecting on deep balls to have a chance. Tennessee couldn’t hit any explosive plays and thus never challenged as they slowly got choked out.

In 2024, you could make the case that it’s the Vols defensive line that has the overwhelming advantage in this matchup. Josh Heupel’s team this year isn’t reliant on splash plays and points; they survive by winning the battle of physicality and endurance. They want to kick your ass, and they aren’t satisfied until they are wearing your blood as warpaint.

If they can’t?

Same old Vols. Same old Josh Heupel finesse team. Can’t win on the road.

Once again the season will be about wasted opportunities. We’ll look at the Arkansas game the same way we look at 2022 South Carolina, except this time it will be worse because there won’t be a sign-stealing scandal to give us an excuse for dropping the ball. And we won’t get to look at the Georgia Bulldogs as some unbeatable deity.

But a win?

With a win you finally solidify yourself as a legitimate top 6 football program in the country. Josh Heupel will be acknowledged as one of the elite coaches in the country. Tennessee officially cements themselves as a true national championship contender.

It’s not exactly an elimination game, but it is a game with heavy championship implications. Josh Heupel and his Tennessee Volunteers have an opportunity to cut the head off of the de facto king of college football since Michigan has been exposed as fraudulent cheaters and Nick Saban decided he’d rather yuck it up with Pat McAfee than compete now that the playing field was becoming closer to even.

On Saturday night, the nation will be watching. The Tennessee Georgia game is -by far- the premier game on the college football schedule this weekend. It’s the only top 10 matchup, and there’s not even a top 20 one either.

Will Josh Heupel deliver in the biggest moment of his coaching career or will the fate of the Volunteers be decided by a committee over the next month?

(Please note that none of this counts if Nico doesn’t play. Please play, Nico. Josh says he expects him to be ready to go, and I’m choosing to believe in Josh.)