The Tennessee Vols haven't won the SEC since 1998.

And they've never reached the College Football Playoff.

Alabama and Georgia, meanwhile, have won a combined 13 SEC Championships since 1998. And they've won the last three national championships.

But despite those accomplishments, Tennessee is set up better for longterm success than Alabama or Georgia.

Crazy talk, right?

Maybe not as crazy as you think.

Look, things change in sports all the time. Sports go through cycles. Alabama wasn't Alabama before Nick Saban arrived in 2007. And Georgia was perpetually stuck in mediocrity under Mark Richt before Kirby Smart arrived in 2016.

Tennessee may have found their Saban/Smart in Josh Heupel.

And Heupel comes with a built-in advantage that neither Saban nor Smart posses.

Heupel is an offensive guru. He's not reliant on making the right offensive coordinator hire for his offense to work. It all starts with Heupel.

Which is why Heupel will never have to go through what Alabama and Georgia went through this offseason.

Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia all had to make offensive coordinator hires this offseason.

Tennessee promoted quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle to offensive coordinator while Alabama went on a weeks-long search that ended with the Crimson Tide hiring Tommy Rees away from Notre Dame as their new play-caller.

Saban heard "no" several times before landing on Rees (Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and former Florida head coach Dan Mullen turned Saban down).

Georgia, meanwhile, didn't have to make a hire until this week. When Todd Monken left for the Baltimore Ravens, Smart quickly promoted Mike Bobo to offensive coordinator. Bobo is a former Bulldogs offensive coordinator that Georgia fans weren't sad to see leave town in 2014.

The Athletic's Seth Emerson suggested this week that Smart promoted Bobo because he saw how much trouble Saban had making a hire.

From The Athletic:

There may not have been a home-run hire available: Look at the trouble Nick Saban had finding a new offensive coordinator before landing on Tommy Rees, who had an uneven past few years at Notre Dame. And now Notre Dame is having trouble finding a replacement for Rees.

Eventually, Saban and/or Smart are going to make the wrong hire. And their offense is going to be a disaster.

That won't ever be a problem under Heupel. In part, because it's his offense, but also because he's bringing in young off-field assistants to groom for those roles. He's already done it with Halzle, wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope, and new tight ends coach Alec Abeln.

There are others that will eventually be promoted, too.

That approach is something that Halzle talked about recently during a media session with reporters.

"It starts with what Coach Heupel expects from what we call the young coaching staff, the support staff on the side," said Halzle. "They are coaches. They know football, they know how to teach, they know how to work, and they know what we do and how to do it at a high level. When he brings them in on the front end, he's not just hiring helping hands."

"He wants to hire people that he sees being able to take that next step in the future," added Halzle. "It's not exclusively that way, but I think that's why you've seen that two years in a row, because he's hired two young guys that he knew were elite at their position and he got to see that first hand for a year on one end, and two years on the other end and knew with a lot of confidence that they'd be able to step in and perform at a high level."

Ultimately in college football, it's all about scoring points. Georgia's defense has been dominant the last two years, but it's been their underrated offense under Monken that's made the Bulldogs a seemingly unstoppable force in college football.

But because that offense isn't Smart's baby, there's no guarantee they'll always be able to put up 35 to 40 points a game.

And that's essentially what it takes to win a championship these days — regardless of how good the defense is playing.

Tennessee has the recipe to be an elite offensive team for years to come.

Alabama and Georgia don't.

Eventually, the pendulum will swing in college football. And when it does, it'll be the Vols that are best situated to rise to the top and dominate.

Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports