Old photo of Josh Heupel goes viral thanks to recent college basketball controversy
An old photo of Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel went viral this week thanks to a recent college basketball controversy. Earlier this week, UCF erased a 16-point deficit to beat Texas. After the game, some UCF players flashed the "horns down" sign to celebrate the win. Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry was angered by […]
An old photo of Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel went viral this week thanks to a recent college basketball controversy.
Earlier this week, UCF erased a 16-point deficit to beat Texas. After the game, some UCF players flashed the "horns down" sign to celebrate the win.
Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry was angered by the gestures and told the UCF players that they were classless while going through the post-game handshake line.
Texas fans, for some reason, are sensitive when it comes to the "horns down" gesture. In fact, the Big 12 declared a few years ago that an opposing player flashing the gesture during a game would result in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Texas is moving to the SEC for the 2024 season and opposing fans are already wondering how the Longhorns will handle a league with fan bases that are significantly more intense (and more ruthless) than Big 12 fan bases.
The SEC is expected to use "common sense" when it comes to the gesture. If a player is in the face of a Texas player doing it, it's probably going to result in a penalty (but that would be the case regardless of the gesture). If a player is doing it while celebrating with teammates, it's probably not going to draw a flag.
With that controversy in mind, a photo of Heupel flashing the "horns down" gesture when he was the starting quarterback at Oklahoma made the rounds this week.
Heupel led Oklahoma to a 63-14 win against Texas in 2000.
That's not the only time, by the way, that Heupel has thrown some shade at Texas. At SEC media days last summer, Heupel was asked if Texas or Tennessee should be considered the "real UT".
Heupel quickly responded that there's "only one real UT, one right shade of orange"
Texas and Tennessee won't meet until 2025. But that game should have plenty of hype considering Heupel's history against the Longhorns.
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