CBS Sports' head coach rankings show major disrespect to Tennessee's Josh Heupel
CBS Sports recently updated their college football head coach rankings and Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel still isn't getting the respect he deserves. A year ago, CBS Sports ranked Heupel at No. 52. This year, Heupel has moved up 19 spots to No. 33. That's a significant jump, but it's still not a fair […]
CBS Sports recently updated their college football head coach rankings and Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel still isn't getting the respect he deserves.
A year ago, CBS Sports ranked Heupel at No. 52. This year, Heupel has moved up 19 spots to No. 33. That's a significant jump, but it's still not a fair ranking.
From CBS Sports:
This has nothing to do with Heupel specifically, but I smell some SEC bias here. Yes, Heupel exceeded expectations at Tennessee in his first year, putting together a fun offense and leading the team to a 7-6 mark and the Music City Bowl. However, if he'd done the same thing at a program in another Power Five conference, would it warrant a 19-spot climb? I'm skeptical. All that aside, he's the first Tennessee coach to finish his first season in Knoxville with a winning record since Lane Kiffin. Simply sticking around for a second season puts him ahead of schedule from that perspective!
Alright, there are a couple of obvious issues here. First of all, Heupel should've never been ranked at No. 52 last year. He was 28-8 in three seasons at UCF while overseeing one of the best offenses in the nation. If he would've been hired as the head coach at Florida, he would've instantly been ranked inside the top 35 a year ago.
And that brings us to issue No. 2 with these rankings. Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier, who left Louisiana for UF this past winter, is on the list at No. 32. This is Napier's first year as a power five head coach and he's ranked ABOVE Heupel? How does that make any sense?!?! Napier's record at Louisiana (40-12 in four seasons) was very similar to Heupel's record at UCF (they each had a 0.777 winning percentage before landing a Power-5 head coaching job) which makes these rankings even more puzzling.
How can CBS Sports justify putting Napier at No. 32 before he's coached a down of Power-5 football, yet they placed Heupel at No. 52 in the same situation? And then Heupel proved he can win in the SEC by going 7-6 last season while Napier has yet to prove anything in the SEC. It's all because Napier is at Florida and Heupel is at Tennessee. And we know by now that the national media absolutely loathes the Vols.
If Heupel was at Florida or Auburn, he'd undoubtedly be a media darling and be ranked inside the top 25. But because he's wearing orange and a Power T, he instantly gets hit with disrespect from the national media. We shouldn't be surprised — this is how it usually goes when it comes to Tennessee football. But it would still be nice to see Heupel get the recognition he deserves.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
