AUTiger789

quote:

---

don't see him leaving until they are all graduated

---

Nate Oats: noted family man

quote:

---

Texas vs Ohio State

---

This is really the main one. If Ohio State goes down early to an SEC team, that pretty much decides which league has the upper hand.

Oklahoma vs Michigan is a distant second since it deals with the Big10’s second program.

Bama vs FSU and LSU vs Clemson don’t matter anymore than Auburn vs Baylor, Kentucky vs Louisville, S Carolina vs Clemson etc. No matter what happens, we all know the SEC is stronger than the ACC top to bottom. The only real difference makers are SEC vs Big10 games.

quote:

---

swap North Carolina with Clem and Duke for FSU in top 15

---

Nah. Both struggle to get 40k fans into a football game. And yes, they are big basketball brands but very few people care about basketball for 50 weeks of the year. If a regular season basketball game hits 1 million viewers, it’s a big deal.

Yes. 1990 AU vs TN. Also 1994 AU vs UGA.

quote:

---

Heupel has been one game away from being in the SEC title game in both 2022 and 2024.

---

Hang the banner!

The 2022 was by far Heupel’s best team (thanks in large part to Golesh as OC). That was by far his best.

But that 2024 team was mid. Yes they went 6-2 in SEC play but they lost to Arkansas (7-6)… their wins in SEC play were against teams that went 0-8, 1-7, 2-6, 3-5, 4-4 (OT), and 5-3 in SEC play…. That Tennessee team only played two opponents in the Final AP Top 15 and they lost by 14 and 25 points each time. 2024 Tennessee got one home win over the worst Bama team in 15+ years and otherwise just played a bunch of bad teams. They were exposed in the playoff.

quote:

---

Yes, and none were as successful at the Group of 5 as Heupel lol

---

Are you being serious? Heupel took over UCF program that finished #6 in the nation the year before he was hired. He then proceeded to run it into the ground going 12-1 his first season, 10-3 in year 2, and then 6-4 in year 3. He literally ran the program head first ibto the ground.

quote:

---

Got fired with a way lower winning percentage than Heupel, and y'all would trade your nuts to have not done that lol

---

Gus is actually a perfect comparison for Heupel only Heupel has far less success.

*Both came out of the gate hot
Gus went 20-7 his first two seasons and Heupel went 18-8

*Both had very successful offenses early on but both saw their offenses sputter as time went on… people figured out Gus’ offense and Tennessee hasn’t been the same since Golesh left.

*Both slid into mediocrity beginning year 3.

*Both won most of the games they were supposed to win. Gus was 55-9 against unranked opponents (85.9%) and Heupel is 38-5 (88.4%).

*Both won enough big games to keep the fans excited but lost more big games than they won. Gus was 13-27 against ranked opponents (32.5%) while Heupel is 7-15 (31.8%).

The only real difference is Gus won actual hardware in an SEC Championship (played for two) while Heupel hasn’t sniffed that opportunity, and Gus was far better at winning some truly massive games… Gus was 4-13 against Final AP Top 5 opponents while Heupel is 1-6.

Very good comparison only Heupel is Gus Malzahn 2.0 without any of Gus’ biggest accomplishments.

quote:

---

Auburn hired Heupel's old OC, who wasn't even as successful in the AAC as Heupel.

---

This is laughable. Heupel took a 13-0 UCF and turned them into a 6-4 team in three seasons. Golesh took over a USF team coming off a 1-11 season and turned them into a 9-3 team in three seasons. Absolute opposite trajectories.

*Records at school they were at last season (full tenure) only
*For coaches fired mid-season, the full season record was counted for them
*using final ap top 25 rankings

.953- Kirby, Georgia (82-4)
.895- Elko, A&M (17-2)
.886- Kelly, LSU (31-4)
.884- Heupel, Tennessee (38-5)
.878- Sarkisian, Texas (36-5)
.846- Kifffen, Ole Miss (44-8)
.844- Venables, Oklahoma (27-5)
.792- Drinkwitz, Missouri (42-11)
.778- DeBoer, Alabama (14-4)
.690- Beamer, S Carolina (29-13)
.658- Stoops, Kentucky (75-39)
.640- Freeze, Auburn (16-9)
.600- Pittman, Arkansas (25-18)
.581- Lea, Vanderbilt (25-18)
.467- Lebby, Miss St (7-8)

DeBoer has an excellent record against ranked opponents but his record against unranked teams is wildly disappointing.

How Jeff Lebby escaped being fired is amazing.

Four of the six lowest on the list all got fired last season.

Brian Kelly had a pretty good track record in these types of games… just struggled in the big games I guess.

quote:

---

Dude, Sumrall was probably the best hire of the offseason.

---

Sumrall is highly overrated IMO.

Against ranked power 4 opponents, Sumrall is 0-3 all-time (using final AP rankings). That’s not good but considering he was at Troy/Tulane the record was to be expected. However, it’s the lack of competitiveness in those games that raises numerous red flags. His teams lost those games by 29, 31, and 35 points. That’s not good.

quote:

---

his metrics are better than more than half the coaches in the league.

---

There will be six new HC at SEC schools out of 16 so that’s not saying much.

quote:

---

Sarks and Kiffin's numbers when you break them down like that are not impressive either.

---

These are not the same. Sark at Texas is 12-15 (44.4%) against final AP Top 25 opponents. Kiffin at Ole Miss was 11-11 (50%). Heupel at 7-15 (31.8%) and trending down is not in the same league as those other two.

quote:

---

By his career and numbers, he is a top 5 coach in the league.

---

Again there are only 10 returning coaches at their schools in 2026. Kirby, DeBoer, Sark, and Kiffin are worlds ahead of Heupel. If you consider trajectory, Elko and Venables should be rated ahead as well.

quote:

---

He is not going to get fired unless he has a losing season this next year

---

Yes I agree which says more about the state of Tennessee football in this era than it does about Heupel himself.

Heupel’s win% against ranked opponents (31.8%) is significantly worse than a lot of Big 6 coaches who have been fired. Les Miles (52.6%) and Ed Orgeron (47.8%) were both fired by LSU. Gene Chizik (43.5%), Tommy Tuberville (40.4%) and Gus Malzahn (32.5%) were fired by Auburn despite all having won an SEC Championship and all having a better win% against ranked opponents than what Heupel has now through five seasons at Tennessee.

Auburn gets a bad wrap for having coaches continually on the hot seat, but I guess it’s good we don’t put up with mediocrity like Tennessee seems to be okay with nowadays.

WTF has Lane Kiffin ever actually accomplished??