TENNESSEE'S NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

Hello. This is the Josh and Swain Newsletter, a quick roundup of the week’s top stories and topics involving Tennessee and the sports world.

Here’s what we have for you today:

• The magnitude of Tennessee’s SEC opener at Oklahoma

• Can the Vols win a big road game + other important questions

• Why Josh Heupel’s return to Norman is such a big deal

• A historic accomplishment by an all-time great in the sports world

THE VOLS ARE CONFIDENT

This is a BIG weekend for Tennessee football. 

We’ll get to the extracurricular storylines (Josh Heupel’s return) a little later. 

This week’s newsletter will start with No. 6 Tennessee’s opportunity against No. 15 Oklahoma. 

📍 Norman, Okla.
⏰ 7:30 p.m. ET
📺 ABC
📻 99.1 The Sports Animal/WIVK

The nation will have its eyes on Tennessee this weekend. 

The Vols have already received all kinds of attention as they’ve destroyed their first three opponents. 

The combined score of UT’s first three games: 191-13.

Tennessee is off to a historic start. 

That’s all great and exciting.

Now the real games begin as Tennessee opens SEC play in Norman.

How good is this Oklahoma team?

That’s to be determined as they’ve limped through parts of their first three games against Temple, Houston and Tulane. 

But Oklahoma has real talent, especially on defense, and the Sooners will have a home crowd to support their team making its SEC debut.

Is Tennessee ready for the challenge?

Jayson Swain and I believe so with both of us picking Tennessee to win during this week’s show. 

Swain explained why he’s confident during the middle of the week:

Tennessee looks like it has one of the nation’s best defensive line units. 

Oklahoma’s offensive line is a big question mark entering the game. 

If the Sooners don’t figure out things up front, things could get bad quickly.

On3’s Jesse Simonton described Tennessee as “an avalanche” on Tuesday. 

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables is one of the nation’s most respected defensive coaches. 

He’s trying to figure out how to cause problems for Tennessee’s offense and it’s second-year quarterback, Nico Iamaleava. 

Cale Gundy, a former Oklahoma quarterback and long-time assistant coach, praised Iamaleava when he joined our show on Thursday. 

Gundy told us Iamaleava looks like a future Heisman Trophy winner and potential No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. 

How Iamaleava handles Oklahoma’s defensive attack is one of Gundy’s big questions for the game. 

Iamaleava said in August he “loves road games more than home games.”

He likes when the odds are against him.

In this case, the odds are very much in Tennessee’s favor — it seems EVERYONE has picked the Vols this week.

Can Iamaleava and the favored Vols back up the talk this Saturday?

That’s one of our questions for the game. 

Let’s take a look at a few more in the next section. 

➡️ Check out our full conversation with Cale Gundy, who discussed OU’s offensive issues to start the season and the magnitude of Tennessee’s upcoming game at Oklahoma.

BIG QUESTIONS BEFORE THE GAME

What are some of the biggest questions — on both sides — entering this game?

Here are a few.

🟠 Will Lance Heard play?

Tennessee listed Tennessee’s starting left tackle as questionable for Saturday after he missed the Kent State game last week.

Heard is reportedly dealing with an ankle injury.

Will he give it a go on Saturday?

And if he does, will he be limited or need to exit the game at some point?

If Heard can’t play, senior Dayne Davis should step into the left tackle spot with John Campbell Jr. playing right tackle.

Heard’s status is the biggest health question for Tennessee entering the game.

⚫ Will OU quarterback Jackson Arnold have time to throw?

Oklahoma’s second-year QB was highly touted in the 2023 class, just like Iamaleava.

Arnold’s numbers to start the season (5.6 yards per attempt) aren’t very impressive.

But his offensive line has looked worse.

Oklahoma will have veteran O-lineman Troy Everett back from injury while center Branson Hickman and tackle Jake Taylor are questionable.

If Hickman can’t play, Everett will likely slide into the center position.

OU’s offensive line looks like a big weakness — while the Vols’ D-line looks like their biggest strength.

As Swain noted earlier, that could create a big advantage for Tennessee.

And here’s something to add: will James Pearce Jr. break out this game?

The Vols’ preseason All-American is looking for his first sack of the season; Saturday would be a good time to get it.

🟠 Will Tennessee run the ball consistently?

Tennessee’s running game has been on fire to start the season.

The Vols rank No. 3 in the nation in rush yards per game, behind only Army and UCF, and are second in the country with 14 rushing touchdowns (Arkansas is No. 1).

Oklahoma has allowed just under 78 yards per game on the ground.

Both sides are facing their toughest test of the young season.

Worth noting: Arnold can run — he leads the Sooners in rushing through three games.

⚫ Who will have the big-play advantage?

Tennessee’s offense has produced 22 plays of 20-plus yards from scrimmage.

Oklahoma has eight plays of 20-plus yards from scrimmage.

Part of OU’s issue comes back to the offensive line.

Can Tennessee continue to hit big plays?

If so, Oklahoma might have a hard time keeping up.

Wide receiver Nic Anderson plans to make his season debut for the Sooners with Andrel Anthony also returning from injury.

Anderson is a 6-4 receiver who averaged 21 yards per catch and scored 10 touchdowns last season.

He and Deion Burks are threats in the passing game.

But the Vols have plenty of offensive weapons, too.

Hitting big plays — and limiting them on the other side — will be key.

🟠 Can Tennessee win a big game on the road?

The most common concern we heard from fans this week had to do with the road aspect.

In 2022, Tennessee laid an egg in Columbia, S.C.

Last year, Tennessee looked awful at Florida and Missouri.

Will this time be different?

We’ll find out Saturday, but something that should help:

This is a different team that appears to have better leadership.

Compared to last year, Tennessee is better at quarterback, offensive line and linebacker — positions that struggled in some of those road losses.

Tennessee wants to contend for an SEC and national title.

It needs to win this kind of game to do that.

SPORTS NUGGETS

🏈 Grumors are back: Jon Gruden wants to coach again, and he’s open to coaching in college.

🏈 This ESPN article from Chris Low and Jake Trotter is a great read on Josh Heupel’s history at Oklahoma ahead of his return to Norman on Saturday.

🏈 Adam Sparks provided details on Tennessee’s increase in ticket prices next year, which will include a 10% “talent fee” to help pay athletes.

🏈 It’s over for Billy Napier at Florida, Jesse Simonton writes. His article looks at more issues than just the head coach position.

🏀 Andy Katz listed his top 16 defenders in the nation for the upcoming college hoops season. Tennessee has three on the list.

💰 You might be tired of hearing about it but here’s an update on the NCAA’s settlement in the House antitrust case.

🎧 Here’s our conversation with ESPN’s Chris Low previewing Tennessee’s game at Oklahoma.

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HEUPEL RETURNS ‘HOME’

It’s difficult to overstate how big of a legend Josh Heupel is to Oklahoma fans.

Heupel was the starting quarterback the last time OU won a national title in 2000.

He was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy that season — and many OU fans believe he should have won the trophy that season.

Heupel arrived at Oklahoma in 1999 after Bob Stoops was hired as head coach to rebuild a struggling program.

Venables, who was the co-defensive coordinator at OU when Heupel arrived, credited Heupel for leading the way.

Does that sound familiar?

Heupel has brought all of those things to Tennessee.

Now, he’ll try to use those qualities to beat his alma mater on Saturday.

At this point, Heupel’s 2014 exit from the program has been well documented.

Stoops decided to fire Heupel and co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell following the 2014 season ended.

“Bob had to make a change,” Gundy told ESPN in the story linked above. “I don’t know, it was tough. … it wasn’t just struggled on the offensive side of the ball. But Bob had to make that decision. An unbelievably tough call.”

For Oklahoma, Lincoln Riley replaced Heupel in 2015 and produced great results.

In 2014, the Sooners scored 36.4 points a game — 21st best in the nation.

After Riley arrived, Oklahoma scored 43.5 points a game in 2015 (4th in the nation) and 43.9 points a game in 2016 (3rd).

Riley also led OU to four conference titles and three College Football Playoff appearances as the head coach after Stoops stepped away.

But Riley bolted for Southern Cal after the 2021 season, leading to Venables’ return to Norman.

Would Oklahoma fans prefer to have Heupel as their head coach now?

Some would say yes; others say no — they’ve got Venables’ back.

The result on Saturday will affect a lot of those answers.

Heupel and his players tried to downplay the significance of Heupel’s return to Norman.

They kept the focus on the game, which is the right move.

But make no mistake: Heupel wants to win this game for multiple reasons.

“These fans will welcome him,” Gundy told us. “He’s the last quarterback here to win a national championship. But when that game starts, Josh is going to want to score 100 points. And the OU fans are going to want to beat the crap out of Tennessee.”

That’s the way it should be.

And it should create a great environment for all of college football to watch.

OH MY, OHTANI

The newsletter is mostly focused on Tennessee and college football at this time of year.

But Shohei Ohtani’s performance on Thursday deserves some attention before we go.

Ohtani entered Thursday’s game between the LA Dodgers and Miami Marlins needing two home runs and one stolen base to become the first ever player to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.

What did Ohtani do?

➡️ He went 6-for-6 with:
• three home runs
• two doubles
• a single
• 10 RBI
• two stolen bases

Ohtani has launched the 50/50 club… and he did it in style.

Remember: Ohtani did all of this after recovering from elbow surgery last September that kept him from pitching this year.

He’ll be back on the mound next season!

So where does this put Ohtani among the all-time great players?

It’s difficult to say, and he still has more time to boost his career numbers.

But Ohtani made history on Thursday while adding to his incredible legacy.

That deserves a celebration.

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