Josh Heupel makes significant leap in national media outlet's SEC coach rankings

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel made a significant leap in CBS Sports' latest ranking of the 14 SEC head coaches.  Prior to the 2022 season, CBS Sports had Heupel ranked as the No. 10 coach in the SEC — a fair ranking after Tennessee went 7-6 in Heupel's first season at the helm.  Entering […]

Zach Ragan — Tennessee Volunteers News Writer
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Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel made a significant leap in CBS Sports' latest ranking of the 14 SEC head coaches. 

Prior to the 2022 season, CBS Sports had Heupel ranked as the No. 10 coach in the SEC — a fair ranking after Tennessee went 7-6 in Heupel's first season at the helm. 

Entering the 2023 season, CBS Sports has Heupel ranked as the No. 5 coach in the SEC, behind Alabama's Nick Saban, Georgia's Kirby Smart, LSU's Brian Kelly, and Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin, respectively. 

From CBS Sports: Heupel led the Volunteers back into the national conversation in 2022 — so much so that they were ranked No. 1 in the first set of College Football Playoff Rankings. He polished off an 11-2 record with a win in the Orange Bowl, pushing his overall record to 18-8 in two seasons in Knoxville. That followed his success at UCF from 2018-20 when he led the Knights to a 28-8 mark.

There's an argument to be made that Heupel should be ranked above Kiffin, though that one could go either way. Both coaches are 18-8 over the last two years. Kiffin has a head to head SEC win against Heupel (Heupel, meanwhile, was 2-0 against Kiffin when Heupel was at UCF and Kiffin was at Florida Atlantic). 

Heupel, though, has a win against Nick Saban, while Kiffin is 0-3 against his former boss.

This is probably a case of Kiffin receiving the benefit of the doubt because of his longer track record as a head coach.

I think it's worth pointing out, however, that there are probably very few (if any) Tennessee fans that would take Kiffin over Heupel right now.  

Either way, it's clear that Heupel is viewed among the upper echelon of SEC coaches and it's been a long time since Tennessee's had a coach that falls into that category. 

Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

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