Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel will see his worlds collide when his team faces Oklahoma in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. It will be the first SEC football game for new member Oklahoma, and there is no better opponent to welcome in the Sooners than Heupel's Tennessee program. Heupel, now 46, was a consensus All-America selection in 2000 as quarterback for Oklahoma and was named AP College Football Player of the Year. The Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2001 led the Sooners to the national title with an undefeated season and a victory over Florida State in the 2001 Orange Bowl. "Yeah, first time I will have been back," Heupel said of the Sept. 21 game, scheduled to be played in Norman, Okla. "It'll be unique for myself to be on the other side of the sideline. Obviously there's been a lot of Saturdays where I was on the home sideline. But there are so many great teammates, friends that will be there." In 12 games with Oklahoma in his senior season, Heupel passed for 3,392 yards, completed 64.7 percent of his throws and connected on 20 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. In his two seasons as the Sooners' starter, he passed for 6.852 yards with 50 TDs and 29 interceptions. "Got great respect for the university, the program," Heupel said of the Sooners. "A lot of friends that are coaching on the opposing sideline that day, former teammates that will be coaching on that opposing sideline, too. So it'll be unique to be back there, but excited to be there." A head coach at both UCF and Tennessee, Heupel is heading into his fourth season with the Volunteers, He has compiled a 27-12 record at Tennessee and victories in the Orange Bowl and Citrus Bowl in each of the past two seasons. Brent Venables, who was on Oklahoma's coaching staff when Heupel played there, is now the head coach of the Sooners. "I got great respect for Brent," Heupel said. But Heupel will still try to make the Sooners' SEC debut a miserable afternoon. "I think it's an exciting time to be in this league and really unique that I'll have an opportunity to go back to Oklahoma," Heupel said. "It'll be a completely different viewpoint on that Saturday afternoon or evening, whenever the game is. But it'll be unique for me. "Got family that still lives back there. A lot of friends, teammates, coaches that I stay in contact that coached me while I was there, and obviously administration, too. So it'll be a unique Saturday." --Field Level Media
Tennessee head football coach Josh Heupel reacts in the rain on the sidelines during Tennessee's game against Georgia at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022.
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