If all of his homecomings are like the one Saturday, Josh Heupel might just buy a house in Norman.
Heck, for all we know, he has one now.
Heupel, who as the quarterback of the Oklahoma Sooners back in the 2000 season led them to the last national championship that they won, returned to Norman on Saturday night, now as the head coach of the sixth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, as the opponent in for the Sooners’ first-ever official regular season Southeastern Conference game.
Tennessee got a decent, not great, but decent performance from quarterback Nico Iamaleava and held the Sooners to just over 222 total yards and 15 points, beating OU, 25-15. Dont’e Thornton Jr. had a 66-yard touchdown catch as a part of that performance, and Bru McCoy had four catches for 92 yards. Dylan Sampson had 92 yards rushing and a score.
After the game, Heupel, who was once OU’s offensive coordinator but was dismissed from that role, chose not to focus on himself after the game, but on the meaning of the game and the win to the Vols.
“This game was never about me coming back here, not for this football team,” Heupel said. “And I say all that — they also understood that this one was a little bit different for me personally too, but that’s not what it was about. But I do appreciate their recognition of that and wanting that for me.
“…We’ve got a good football team,” Heupel said. “We’ve got high expectations. And they continue to compete extremely hard every day to grow, to become better. This was our first road test in the league. Tonight was about this ’24 football team, and I’m really proud of how they performed.”
For OU, the loss was nowhere near an absolute disaster – but it wasn’t a night to write home about, either.
Starting quarterback Jackson Arnold went 7-of-16 for 54 yards, an interception and fumbled the ball away, and was eventually benched for Michael Hawkins Jr.
The Sooners lost defensive back Kendel Dolby, who suffered an injury to his right leg and had to be carted off. OU head coach Brent Venables said Dolby had a dislocated ankle and would have surgery.
Others injured in the game included running back Taylor Tatum and receiver Nic Anderson. Venables said Anderson re-injured a quad muscle.
Venables said Arnold and Hawkins will compete for the starting job. OU is 3-1 on the season, and obviously 0-1 in SEC play – the Sooners head to one of the SEC’s most difficult environments next Saturday, Auburn.
Tennessee (4-0, 1-0) is off on Saturday, and visits Arkansas on Oct. 5.
