Tennessee newspaper makes bold comparison of Heupel to Spurrier, Saban, Smart

Josh Heupel beating No. 15 Oklahoma in Norman would be fulfilling the prophecy that Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, and Kirby Smart – all legendary coaches who will go down in SEC lore with multiple conference titles and at least one national championship – all did before the Tennessee head coach.

That’s what The Chattanooga Times Free Press’s David Paschall believes, anyway.

“Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban and Kirby Smart each had to take college football teams back to previous coaching stops where they experienced championship success,” Paschall prefaced before saying, “Now it's Josh Heupel's turn.”

Josh Heupel being given too high of expectations

Certainly, beating Brent Venables’ rolling Sooners would be the statement win that’d make the majority of college football observers think Heupel’s Vols can join the aforementioned legendary coaching company. Tennessee is in elite hands with Nico Iamaleava . Oklahoma is the first major challenge to that statement.

If passed, the Vols have a seemingly light run through the SEC until the Georgia game.

Tennessee can arrive in the national picture with the talent on both sides of the ball, but the comparisons to these legends are premature right now. Get past Oklahoma, and overcome the big, bad Bulldogs in Athens, and this is a more appropriate conversation.

Again, the Vols are locked and loaded. All signs point to Tennessee being a powerhouse very soon.

But wins over Chattanooga, NC State, and Kent State have the Volunteer State’s media getting a little ahead of themselves just yet.