National college football analyst hits Josh Heupel and Tennessee with a big dose of reality
Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols football program got hit with a big dose of reality this week by Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt. Klatt suggested that Tennessee fans were "duped" into believing that the UT football program was an "upper echelon SEC program" after winning 11 games last season. Klatt thinks that […]
Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols football program got hit with a big dose of reality this week by Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt.
Klatt suggested that Tennessee fans were "duped" into believing that the UT football program was an "upper echelon SEC program" after winning 11 games last season. Klatt thinks that Tennessee just happened to have great players last season and that's why they won 11 games(Klatt's comments on Tennessee start at the 26:00 mark of the video below).
"Last season was such a high for Tennessee," said Klatt during The Joel Klatt Show this week. "It really was. First double digit win season since 2007 — that was the (Phillip) Fulmer era. They did everything right and everything came together. And Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt, (Cedric) Tillman, Darnell Wright, the offensive line, even the the way the defense played at times was good. And you know what? You know how you should feel [as a] Tennessee fan? Duped. You got duped. You got totally duped. Because guess what? You thought that the program had elevated to that point where you were an upper echelon SEC program. Not the case. You had some upper echelon talent and there's a huge difference."
"Joe Milton is not anywhere nearly as good of a quarterback as Hendon Hooker," added Klatt. "That's just a fact. And I like Joe Milton a lot. The wide receiver group is not Jalin Hyatt and company like last year. The defense has not been up to par. You got duped into feeling like your program had arrived at a level in which they had not arrived at. A few players took you to a mountaintop and duped you into thinking that the entire program was on that mountaintop and it's just not the case."
"It's insanely hard to have great team after great team after great team and constantly putting yourself on the level of the elite in your conference or the country," continued Klatt. "It's almost impossible. That's why it's really hard. And this is the evidence of that….Tennessee fans were duped. We were all duped into believing Tennessee was something that they were not."
Ouch. Those are some tough words to hear from Klatt.
And look, I'm not saying he's right — I think it's a bit early for this kind of take (the Vols still have nine regular seasons games left to play). But at the same time, it's hard to argue against what Klatt is saying. Tennessee hasn't looked the same this season. They haven't even looked close to the team we saw last season. Through three games against not great teams this season, the Vols are 2-1 and they're averaging 31.6 points per game.
A year ago through three games, the Vols were 3-0 and they were averaging 43.6 points per game (and their first three games last year against Pittsburgh, Akron, and Florida, which had Anthony Richardson a year ago, were arguably much tougher games than the Virginia, Austin Peay, and Richardson-less Florida stretch that UT has played this season).
Tennessee should do two things with Klatt's words — they should use them as a wake-up call and they should use them as motivation (especially Heupel).
Right now, there isn't much of a rebuttal to Klatt's take outside of "let the season play out". The only way Heupel and the Vols can change the current narrative that's emerging from the national media is to just simply play better. And if they don't, the "duped" talk is only going to grow louder.
Josh Heupel wants Joe Milton to do something that he hasn’t done well as college player
Tennessee Vols HC Josh Heupel wants Joe Milton to do something that he hasn’t done well as college player
Featured image via Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
