Season Reflection

ERIC WOODS Assistant Sports Editor

Vol fans, you have something to be excited about — something to build on. And no, it’s not a one-year wonder.

While you were away, the Vols won the Orange Bowl against Clemson, and before you left, it seemed like everything came crashing down. The loss to South Carolina was just another instance of a hopeful season ending in heartbreak.

That was not the case. Josh Heupel is building something special at Tennessee. Let’s throw it back to Oct. 15 — the third Saturday in October. It was a game that used to mean something back in the days of Phillip Fulmer.

Unless you lived under a rock, you know that Tennessee beat the Crimson Tide 52-49. The past 15 years of pain vanished in one night like the cigar smoke that hovered over Neyland Stadium.

Fulmer once dominated the rivalry with an 11-5 record during his time at Tennessee. During his tenure, a 10-win season was the standard, and he lived up to it by reaching that mark for half of his 16 seasons. He was also the last Vols head coach to reach the mark before Heupel.

Heupel’s success means something. Let’s take a look at the last time the Vols were in the Orange Bowl with a top-ti- er quarterback in college football. It was 1997 and the Vols were led by some guy named Peyton Manning who was in his last season with Tennessee.

The Vols went 11-2 that year, but it was the year after that Rocky Top remembered the most. Even if you weren’t alive, you’ve heard stories of the magical 1998 season. Tee Martin, the guy who took over after Manning, led the Vols to an undefeated season and a national championship.

No. It’s not a guaranteed national championship, but there’s finally hope in Knoxville that can be backed up by results. Besides, it will be Heupel’s third season as the Vols’ head coach. In college football, it’s unheard of to see the kind of success that Heupel has had so early in his tenure, especially with the state that the program was in when he took over.

Most coaches who have early success already had the groundwork laid out for them in terms of recruiting, or they are a high profile coach with loads of experience to build quickly. Neither of those was the case for Heupel.

He took over a program and was forced to pick up the pieces left by the Pruitt era. In his short time, Heupel has revived the Tennessee fanbase, his players have bought in and he has put the Vols back on the national radar of the college football world.

In the Orange Bowl, the Vols were without Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt, who were the two most important pieces to their success in 2022. They were expected to lose, and no one was going to fault them for it.

The game was mainly a preview of the 2023 roster minus some transfers and freshmen coming in. Joe Milton showed that he can be trusted as a starter with 251 yards and three touchdowns, and Squirrel White showed that he could be the next speedy wide receiver to take Rocky Top by storm with 108 yards and a score.

Pair those two with a solid outing from the defense and the rest of the roster, and it looks like Knoxville is ready to stop reminiscing on the Fulmer days looking back to a better time.

It’s time to get past the five head coaches in the last 14 years since Fulmer’s departure. It’s time to get past as many losing seasons as winning seasons since them. The time for Tennessee football is now.