The indicators had been there from the start, all the way in which again to the beginning of final season.
Tennessee started placing up massive offensive numbers, numbers that hadn’t been seen lately in Knoxville. The Volunteers went from the 109th-ranked scoring offense in 2020 to No. 7 final yr. That they had a four-win turnaround and reached a bowl sport for simply the second time in 5 years.
It was apparent then, Tennessee had discovered a coach after misfiring so many occasions going again to the times when Phillip Fulmer strode the sideline. Saturday, the complete nation realized it, watched Josh Heupel and his star quarterback, Hendon Hooker, stun Alabama 52-49, emphatically announce themselves as nationwide championship contenders.
Tennessee, an SEC East punching bag the higher a part of the final twenty years, didn’t simply overcome everybody’s bully within the third Saturday of October rivalry. It took a roundhouse and confirmed it has an iron chin, recovered from blowing an 18-point result in knock off Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide for the primary time in 16 years. It hung essentially the most factors on Alabama in additional than a century, courting all the way in which again to 1907 when Sewanee scored 54.
After Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley, Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee lastly acquired it proper with Heupel. His rent wasn’t the splash as a few of the others that preceded him. It wasn’t roundly praised. He didn’t come from the Saban teaching tree. He labored his method up the teaching ladder, spending time as an assistant at Arizona, Oklahoma, Utah State and Missouri earlier than going 28-8 in three seasons as the pinnacle man at Central Florida.
Final yr, Heupel received seven video games in his first season at Tennessee, shedding 3 times by a single rating. Then got here this fall, and this 6-0 begin, a stretch they've been ready years to see at Tennessee. He has made Hooker into one of many nation’s high quarterbacks, the tremendous senior throwing for 46 touchdowns and simply three interceptions in a season and a half since becoming a member of him after three seasons at Virginia Tech.
Putting in a contemporary uptempo offense, Heupel has coached aggressively from the time he arrived on campus, and by no means extra so than in opposition to Alabama. Tennessee attacked all sport. When Crimson Tide kicker Will Reichard’s 50-yard area purpose was extensive proper, solely 15 seconds remained. Loads of coaches would’ve taken a knee, be pleased for extra time. Heupel coached to win the sport reasonably than to not lose it, and Hooker acquired Chase McGrath in place to ship the dramatic victory 16 years within the making with a 40-yard area purpose he knuckleballed via the uprights.
A raucous celebration ensued, the gang of 102,000 inside Neyland Stadium exploding and storming the sector. The goalposts had been torn down. Tennessee was the story of the day, and it has develop into the best story of this season.
Orange rush
Saturday afternoon, Syracuse grew to become greater than a cute, unpredictable upstart. By whipping N.C. State 24-9 at residence to stay undefeated, the Orange introduced themselves as deserving of the No. 18 rating that was subsequent to its title when the sport began, as one of many extra inconceivable groups of this season.
Syracuse, as much as No. 14 within the newest ballot, received 11 video games and 5 league contests the final three seasons. Seven of the least eight years, it completed with a shedding file. It was picked final within the mediocre ACC Atlantic Division. However Dino Babers’ group now finds itself as one among two undefeated ACC groups remaining, off to its first 6-0 begin since 1987. Predictably, the opposite one is Clemson, the Orange’s opponent subsequent week. Remarkably, Syracuse and star working again Sean Tucker can be in one of many nation’s showcase video games in Loss of life Valley.
It is going to be a heavy underdog. No one is anticipating a lot from Syracuse. However expectations had been low coming into the season, too, and 6 video games in, the Orange have but to lose.
SE-three?
The situation is unlikely, however it's potential. The SEC might ship three groups to the playoff. Take into account: Alabama wins out, beating Georgia within the SEC title sport. Georgia tops Tennessee on Nov. 5, handing the Volunteers their lone loss. All three groups would have one high-level loss, and all would have one excellent win.
Now, Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson are all undefeated, massive manufacturers which can be unlikely to be overlooked of the playoff in the event that they win out. One must endure a loss — and Michigan and Ohio State nonetheless play one another — to not make it. TCU, the undefeated Large 12 chief, might be one other issue. One of many aforementioned SEC groups might wind up with two losses. However don’t dismiss the potential of the powerhouse convention at the very least having three groups with a shot at taking part in for a title. Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia certain seem to be three of the very best groups within the nation.
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