Tennessee Coach Josh Heupel Discusses Third Saturday in October

The first-year Volunteers head coach noted that himself, his staff and players need to control the present rather than look to the future.

HOOVER, Ala. — When it comes to the rivalry between Alabama football and Tennessee, it's safe to say that it hasn't exactly been much of a competition over a period longer than a decade.

The last time the Crimson Tide fell to the Volunteers was all the way back in 2006, when No. 7 Tennessee downed unranked Alabama in Knoxville 16-13. Since that time — a total of 14 consecutive seasons — the Crimson Tide has come out on top.

This offseason saw the departure of Volunteers head coach — and former Nick Saban assistant — Jeremy Pruitt and the hiring of UCF coach Josh Heupel.

At Tuesday's Day 2 of the 2021 SEC Media Days, Heupel addressed the Third Saturday in October rivalry that has grown slightly cold in recent years.

“That ball game is huge to the fan base and to our players — on both sides of it,” Heupel said. “You come to Tennessee to play in games like that. This fan base loves football. They breathe it 365 out of the year. If it’s recruiting, they care about recruiting. If it’s spring ball, they care about what’s going on out on the field. That’s the challenge for us moving forward, but it’s not about this one game this fall as we move forward."

Last season, the No. 2 Crimson Tide took care of business inside Neyland Stadium, winning the game by a margin of 48-17 despite losing top wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to injury on the opening kickoff.

Over the last decade, Tennessee has utilized a total of six head coaches, each seemingly seeing less success than their predecessor. With Pruitt being ousted in embarrassing fashion and with athletic director Phil Fulmer leaving as well, the Volunteers have a lot of rebuilding ahead of them before the once championship-winning program returns to its former glory.

Heupel also noted that his players recognize that building to topple a college football empire like what Saban has built at Alabama will take some time through continuous improvement.

"Our players understand that we’re only as good as our next performance and for us as a coaching staff and players, we have to take a one-day approach at it and that means that we can control today," Heupel said. "We can’t control three months from now. We can control today. If we take care of today and follow that up consistently, we’re going to put ourselves in the best position to get where we want to go long-term.”

Senior defensive back Alontae Taylor has been with the Volunteers since 2018 and has three losses to the Crimson Tide under his belt. Taylor echoed Heupel's sentiments towards their game against Alabama, noting that their season opener against Bowling Green is just as important as one of the top-10 rivalries in college football.

"I hear about that all the time," Taylor said. "The big rivalry with Bama and what does it mean — at the end of the day, all games is just as important as this one game so I don't really look at it too much as too much weight to put on my shoulders as far as going out there to perform. You want to perform the best that you can whether you're playing Alabama or some smaller team.

"So week in and week out just making sure that we're putting our best foot forward and what pushes me everyday with that is just working with these guys and just letting them know that 'Hey, everyone talks about Bama, everyone talks about Georgia, everyone talks about Florida' — whatever it may be, but that first game is just as important as a Bama or Florida game [in] playing Bowling Green."