How one play this season showed that Vols head coach Josh Heupel has the best offensive mind in college football
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel has established himself as one of the best offensive minds in college football in recent years. Under Heupel's leadership, the Vols have gone from having the No. 109 offense in the nation in 2020 (under Jeremy Pruitt) to the No. 7 offense in 2021 and the No. 1 offense […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel has established himself as one of the best offensive minds in college football in recent years.
Under Heupel's leadership, the Vols have gone from having the No. 109 offense in the nation in 2020 (under Jeremy Pruitt) to the No. 7 offense in 2021 and the No. 1 offense in 2022.
Numbers don't lie.
But it's not just the numbers that suggest that Heupel has the best offensive mind in college football.
It's the way Tennessee's achieved those numbers that's made Heupel look so impressive.
If you ask most college football fans about the Vols' offense, they'll likely tell you that it's a wide-open spread offense that moves fast and throws the ball around a lot.
That's certainly a characteristic of Tennessee's offense, but that's not the entirety of the Vols' offense.
One of the reasons UT's offense was so effective this season is because Heupel and his offensive staff kept opposing defenses guessing at all times.
The best example of this came against Alabama when Tennessee came out of a play stoppage by huddling, going under center, and handing the ball to Princeton Fant, who was lined up as a fullback, and scoring.
You can see that Fant touchdown at the end of the clip below.
That was a moment where Heupel completely outcoached Nick Saban.
On that play, Heupel switched up everything about Tennessee's supposed offensive identity.
And it completely confused Alabama — something Saban admitted after the loss to the Vols.
Saban said when Tennessee lined up in that formation that Alabama's players had no idea what to do.
This is what makes Heupel such an impressive offensive coach. He's innovative, but he's also just fine with going old school when it's needed. And because he has that in his back pocket, he can break it out at any time (which is usually when it's least expected).
The truth about Tennessee's offense is that there is no label for it. Sure, the bulk of what they do involves tempo and spread formations. But Heupel showed plenty of times this season that UT's offense is much more complex than just going fast and spreading defenses out.
The crux of Heupel's offense is essentially "staying a step ahead of your opponent". And for most of the 2022 season, that's exactly what the Vols did.
Featured image via Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
