Josh Heupel reflects on national championship as he returns to Orange Bowl as coach
Friday will be a full-circle moment of sorts for Tennessee coach Josh Heupel when his sixth-ranked Volunteers (10-2) play the No. 7 Clemson Tigers (11-2) in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium.
It was a little more than 20 years ago — Jan. 3, 2001 — when Heupel was carried on his teammate’s shoulders on the very same field after his top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners defeated the third-ranked Florida State Seminoles 13-2 to secure Oklahoma’s seventh national title.
“Great memories from my playing career,” Heupel said Thursday, adding that some of his teammates from that 2000 Oklahoma team will be at the Orange Bowl on Friday. “When I think back to my days at Oklahoma and some of the things that we accomplished, the mind obviously comes right here to this stadium and this bowl game.”
It was the final touch on Heupel’s college career, one that saw the quarterback start at Weber State in Utah and transfer to Snow College (a junior college in Utah) for a year before landing at Oklahoma under new coach Bob Stoops. In 24 games through two seasons with the Sooners, Heupel completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 7,066 yards and 50 touchdowns with 30 interceptions. Heupel was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL Draft but never played a snap in the NFL.
Heupel finished as runner-up to FSU quarterback Chris Weinke for the Heisman Trophy in the 2000 season but led his team past Weinke and the Seminoles head-to-head when it mattered.
Heupel completed 25 of 39 passes for 214 yards in an Orange Bowl matchup that was ultimately an offensive struggle. Oklahoma led 3-0 at halftime and 6-0 after the third quarter before putting the game away with a Quentin Griffin 10-yard rushing touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
“The feeling is kind of indescribable afterwards,” Heupel said after the game. “It is almost like, not a sense of relief like there was pressure to win and to do it, but just a sense of relief that everything you’ve set out in front of you has come to pass. It is great to be able to look your teammates in the eyes and see that look in their eyes, the sense of pride and accomplishment that they have had. So those are the things that you take away right after the game.”
The situation will be slightly different this time around when Heupel gets to Hard Rock Stadium. There isn’t a national championship at stake this year, but Tennessee is trying to cap its most successful season since 2001 with a win.
Heupel has stressed the importance of this Tennessee team being able to “leave a strong legacy.” How they play Friday will have an impact in that.
“These are opportunities and memories that you remember forever, and I’ve tried to share that with our football team, having played in this game, just what this game means, the exposure that you have, the opportunity that you have,” Heupel said. “As you get further away from it, your bowl experience is something that you’re going to come back to when you’re with your brothers.”
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