Whether you’re a Vol for life or someone who predicted that Tennessee would miss the Playoff (me), we should all be able to admit something after Saturday night’s win in Norman.
So far, nobody in the country has been more impressive than Tennessee.
I know. That’s a tough thing to admit, especially if you were of the mindset that Oklahoma would be swallowed whole by the SEC. Tennessee’s double-digit victory in the Sooners’ SEC debut probably didn’t impress that crowd.
It might not have impressed Texas fans, who have a legitimate claim to be considered “the most impressive team” so far, but 3 of those 4 games were 7-figure paychecks for cupcakes. Speaking of cupcakes, that’s all Ohio State and Ole Miss feasted on while Georgia struggled to put away 1 of its 2 non-cupcakes.
If there’s a September award for “most impressive team,” the Vols earned it.
Does that guarantee a national championship? Shoot, it doesn’t even guarantee a spot in the expanded Playoff. That schedule, which still includes Alabama and Georgia, can turn the “most impressive team in September” into 9-3.
But let’s be honest. Tennessee’s start, which included double-digit wins away from home against a pair of preseason AP Top 25 teams, showed that the Vols can do what you’d hope all championship contenders can do. They can impose their will and win in multiple ways.
On Saturday night, it was a completely different vibe than the track meet that Josh Heupel led in 2022 against Alabama. That statement win was all about the Vols’ top-scoring offense never backing down after the boogeyman, AKA Nick Saban, led Alabama back from a 3-score deficit. This statement win was all about going into Norman and taking that crowd raucous out of it. Mission accomplished.
Tennessee did that with chunk plays from Nico Iamaleava — it wasn’t a high-volume night from him, but he hit on 3 big passing plays in his first true road start — and a lights-out defensive showing.
Tennessee was so dominant defensively that Brent Venables benched starter Jackson Arnold before halftime after he turned the ball over 3 times. And sure, Michael Hawkins Jr. stepped in and led a pair of touchdown drives. It ended Tennessee’s streak of 19 quarters without an offensive touchdown allowed. As Kirk Herbstreit mentioned on the broadcast, a mobile quarterback was something that Tennessee really hadn’t seen until Hawkins stepped in.
Time will tell if that’s a true Achilles’ heel. What’s clear is that a preseason strength in the front 7 has more depth than ever imagined. It’s not just James Pearce Jr. and Omari Thomas. A healthy Keenan Pili looks like a godsend, as does Joshua Josephs in his first season as a starter on the Tennessee defensive line, which held Oklahoma to 63 sack-adjusted rushing yards on 31 carries.
Once upon a time, the knock on Heupel was that his teams wouldn’t play complementary football and that his defenses would always bear the brunt of that with the up-tempo offense taking priority. Time of possession? Who cares?
Well, this team might be changing that notion, too. It’s early, but Tennessee ranked No. 57 in FBS in time of possession entering Week 4. That’s after Heupel’s first 3 Tennessee teams all ranked dead last among Power 5 and second-worst in FBS in that category. All the Vols did in Norman was have an 11-minute advantage because they held Oklahoma to 3-for-15 on 3rd-down conversions.
Why does that matter? Because Heupel is evolving. Tim Banks’ defense is for real because there’s depth up front, and offensively, what can’t Tennessee do? Iamaleava can make every throw. There’s a reason why so many are gushing about his play after just a handful of starts. Making throws like the one he did to Dont’e Thornton should be turning skeptics into believers.
That doesn’t mean Iamaleava will be perfect every time he steps on the field. The fact that he had multiple turnovers in both double-digit wins away from home against NC State and Oklahoma speaks to how great his margin for error is. It helps when you’ve got a squad that takes care of business in the trenches and schemes on both sides of the ball like Tennessee.
When Iamaleava did make a rare mistake with one of 2 Oklahoma strip sacks, the Vols forced a fumble on Jackson Arnold the very next play. Mind you, that was in a 10-3 game when Oklahoma took over in the red zone.
That might not be the definition of “complimentary football,” but let’s say that’s “I got your back” football.
That moment felt like Oklahoma’s last real shot to make it a back-and-forth game. It wasn’t. Tennessee entered the night as a bigger favorite in Norman than any team since 1998, AKA the pre-Bob Stoops era. It left the night with a double-digit win. That was Tennessee’s first time beating a top-15 team on the road since 2006. Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley, Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt couldn’t do that.
In Year 4, Heupel is already better than those 4 predecessors. In 2024, Heupel already looks like he’s got a team that’s capable of being better than any team of the post-Phillip Fulmer era. That includes the 2022 squad, which couldn’t show enough poise on the road to make the 4-team Playoff. In the 12-team field, our perception of Tennessee’s shortcomings could feel different.
For now, though, those shortcomings are hard to find. Being a bit banged-up at left tackle was evident and surely Tennessee would’ve liked to have imposed its will in the ground game a bit more, though it’s understandable that a Year 3 Brent Venables defense wasn’t a doormat.
But as late September approaches, Tennessee is hard to criticize. Neither a first-year quarterback nor major turnover in the secondary held the Vols back. If anything, they got them to where they’re at now. All signs point to Tennessee doing more than just spoiling Oklahoma’s SEC debut.