After months-long build up, Josh Heupel, Vols relish road win at Oklahoma

Music blared and chants rang out inside the visitors locker room tucked away beneath the stands at a largely empty Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium late Saturday night.

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In the week leading up to Tennessee’s top 15 road tilt with Oklahoma, Josh Heupel, who once led the Sooners to a national title as a quarterback 24 years ago, downplayed his return to Norman after being fired following a nine-year stint as an offensive coordinator there.

Heupel might have shrugged off the build up to the game, but in the moments after the Vols wrapped up a 25-15 victory, his players made sure to relish it. They made sure he relished it, too.

“This game was never about me coming back here, not for this football team. And I say all that, they also understood that this one was a little bit different for me personally, too,” Heupel said. “But that’s not what it was about but I do appreciate their recognition of that and wanting that for me.”

Among the spoils of victory for Heupel, aside from an early-season resume boost that gives Tennessee (4-0, 1-0 SEC) an inside track to the College Football Playoff before the end of September, was the game ball, handed to him at midfield by quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

"I knew that it was coach (Heupel) coming back to his original home," Iamaleava said. "We went to college here, he coached here. I knew it meant a lot to him. He didn't show as much during the week, but we knew what it meant to him and what it meant to us."

Heupel says that the ball will go back to his office in the Vols football facilities in Knoxville, but it may serve as more than a memento from the night his coaching career came full circle.

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Everything Josh Heupel said after Tennessee beat Oklahoma

It was the night that Tennessee's football program under Heupel came full circle, winning the kind of game it couldn't have won when he arrived four years ago, a game that could have slipped away early after Oklahoma (3-1, 0-1) tried to drag the Vols into the mud with it.

Tennessee turned the ball over twice, once that set the Sooners up inside the 10-yard line. It was penalized 10 times for 82 yards and didn't score a touchdown after the 1:40 mark of the second quarter.

The Vols won anyway.

Tennessee is equipped to win games like that because of the nearly four-year rebuild of its defense, overseen by Tim Banks. The up tempo, flashy and high-scoring Vols, who just one week ago broke a plethora of offensive records in a 71-0 thrashing of Kent State, were so confident in where they're at defensively that they seemingly didn't feel the need to try and force anything when they had the ball.

Tennessee forced three turnovers, held Oklahoma to just 36 rushing yards and 3-of-15 on third down attempts. The Vols' defensive line lived in the Sooners' backfield, racking up three sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

Iamaleava hit on the big plays down field when they were there, including a 66-yard touchdown strike to Dont'e Thornton Jr. and running back Dylan Sampson, who had a relatively quiet game for the first time in four outings, ground out 92 yards and a score on 24 carries.

That's not just good enough to win games on the road in the SEC. It's good enough to reach the playoff and win games there, too.

"I think in this league, you gotta be able to win different ways as the season unfolds," Heupel said. "Each game is different, each opponent, matchups, all of that. We need to be the most physical football team on the field every Saturday."

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Tennessee winning in ways it couldn't just a few years ago

Tennessee will get a bye week next Saturday before going back on the road to face Arkansas (3-1, 1-0) in Fayetteville. It is especially timely for the Vols' offensive line, which entered Saturday down starting left tackle Lance Heard and then lost starting right tackle John Campbell Jr. in the first half.

The game-week storylines going forward will shift back to this Tennessee team and what its ceiling could be, particularly when its back to full health. Heupel prefers it that way.

"It meant something to be here, and to play, and to win, yes, but that’s just not what it was about in coming back here," Heupel said. "We've got a good football team, got high expectations. They continue to compete extremely hard every day to grow to become better.

"This was our first road test in the league. Tonight was about this ’24 football team and really proud of how they performed."

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