Where Tennessee's Josh Heupel is ranked among Power Four college football head coaches
Josh Heupel is the 23rd best coach in Power Four college football, according to CBS Sports and the 1-68 ranking from Tom Fornelli. Heupel dropped seven spots in the ranking after coming in at No. 16 a year ago.
Heupel is 55-20 in six years as a head coach, including 27-12 after three years at Tennessee, with a 14-10 record in Southeastern Conference games.
“Seeing how recency bias works in these rankings is always fun,” Fornelli wrote. “Heupel leaped to No. 16 last year after the Volunteers went 11-2 and won the Orange Bowl, and I’d have argued he was ranked a little too high.
“Then the Volunteers follow it up with a 9-4 season, which was more than respectable, and he nearly drops out of the top 25 altogether. What changed aside from the record?”
Six SEC coaches ranked ahead of Josh Heupel in Top 25
Tennessee went 9-4 last season, capping the season with a 35-0 win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl after dropping games earlier in the year at Florida, at Alabama, at Missouri and at Georgia.
Heupel led the Vols to an 11-2 season in 2022, his second on the job at Tennessee, after starting 8-0 and climbing all the way to No. 1 in the first College Football Playoff Top 25 ranking of the season.
Six SEC coaches were ranked ahead of Heupel. Georgia’s Kirby Smart came in at No. 1, ahead of Texas coach Steve Sarkisian at No. 5, new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer at No. 7, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin at No. 14, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops at No. 20 and Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz at No. 21.
“This is the area where Heupel should’ve been ranked last year,” Fornelli wrote of Heupel coming in at No. 23, “but my bet would be that another nine-win season will have him drop a few spots.”
Tennessee-NC State set for 7:30 p.m. ET start in Charlotte on September 7
Tennessee starts the fourth season of the Heupel era on August 31 against Chattanooga at Neyland Stadium.
The Vols go to Charlotte in Week 2 to face North Carolina State on September 7 in the Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium. It was announced on Wednesday that the game will be a 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on ABC.
Tennessee returns home to face Kent State on September 14 before back-to-back road games to start SEC play, going to Oklahoma on September 21 as the Sooners make their debut in the league, followed by a trip to Arkansas on October 5.
The first bye week of the season, on September 28, divides the two road games.
The Vols then play four straight home games, hosting Florida (October 12), Alabama (October 19), Kentucky (November 2) and Mississippi State (November 9), with the second bye week of the season set for October 26.
The final three weeks of the regular season includes a road game at Georgia (November 16), a home date with UTEP (November 23) and a trip to Vanderbilt (November 30).
