One potential reason why Tennessee's games against Missouri have been 'chippy' the last 2 years
The Tennessee Vols' last two games against the Missouri Tigers have felt personal for Josh Heupel. Tennessee won both of those games by a combined 80 points. And last season in Knoxville, the Vols scored with under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter to push their lead from 59-24 to 66-24. That decision was […]
The Tennessee Vols' last two games against the Missouri Tigers have felt personal for Josh Heupel.
Tennessee won both of those games by a combined 80 points. And last season in Knoxville, the Vols scored with under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter to push their lead from 59-24 to 66-24.
That decision was heavily criticized by numerous college football analysts and it led to plenty of folks wondering if there was bad blood between Heupel and Missouri.
It's possible that Heupel just wanted to score some style points to impress the playoff committee last season.
At the time, Heupel told reporters that he just let his guys "play football".
"For us, at the end of the day, our twos (second-string offense) were in the football game when the ball went down to the one-yard line," said Heupel. "Absolutely it went through my mind (taking a knee). I don't know what the right thing is to do in that moment. At the end of the day, let our guys continue to play football."
If it was Heupel sending a message to Mizzou, it's entirely possible that it has to do with the Tigers' decision to hire Eli Drinkwitz instead of Heupel, who was an offensive coordinator at Missouri from 2016 to 2017, to replace Barry Odom after the 2019 season.
Drinkwitz was a relatively unknown coach who had just completed his first season as a head coach at Appalachian State.
Heupel, meanwhile, had won 21 games in his first two seasons as a head coach at UCF.
It's unclear if Heupel was ever a serious candidate for the Missouri job, though he was named by plenty of college football insiders as a candidate.
If Heupel is trying to send a message by obliterating the Tigers every time the Vols play them, it's not because he wishes he would've gotten the Missouri job over Drinkwitz. It's simply because Heupel seems to be the type that carries a chip on his shoulder — which is a good thing. And it's his way of showing Missouri that they made the wrong choice to either not hire him or to overlook him.
It's all speculation, of course. And maybe there's no bad blood at all between Heupel and the Tigers. But Heupel has that dog in him. We've seen it plenty over the last couple of years. He keeps receipts. And it wouldn't be a surprise if getting passed over by Mizzou in late 2019 gives Heupel a little extra motivation every time Tennessee plays the Tigers.
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