Tennessee football: Josh Heupel reversed one rivalry as a player. Can he reverse the Alabama series?

Josh Heupel has experience taking part in a rivalry that seems extremely one-sided. That’s the situation he’s in right now as Tennessee football gets set to visit the Alabama Crimson Tide, who have won 14 straight in the series dating back to Nick Saban’s first year there.

Alabama now leads the series 57-38-8, however, one of the Vols’ wins is based on a retroactive forfeit, and one of Alabama’s wins has been vacated. As a result, on the field, it’s more like 58-37-9, a 21-game difference.

Well, back in 1999, when Heupel joined the Oklahoma Sooners Bob Stoops’ first year there, OU was in a similar situation with the Texas Longhorns. The Red River Showdown heavily favored Texas, who led the series 54-34-5. They won that game in 1999 to expand their lead to 55-34-5, 21 games just like Alabama over Tennessee football right now.

Starting in 2000, Heupel reversed course for the program. The Sooners destroyed Texas 63-14, and that began a five-game winning streak for them in the series. It also began an era of dominance in the early part of this century.

Dating back to that game, Oklahoma has won 16 games in the series while the Longhorns have won just seven. The coaches for both programs have been different, but that hasn’t changed what Heupel started all those years ago.

Now, he finds himself in a similar situation with Tennessee football. Heupel is taking over a program that had its issues, just as OU did before Stoops, and couldn’t beat its so-called rivals. It only took him and Stoops a year to reverse trends.

Can they do that on Rocky Top? It wouldn’t be the first time a coach has reversed trends in this series. Don’t forget that Phillip Fulmer reversed Alabama’s trend of dominating the Vols. Before he took over, they had won 18 of 22 games. After a tie and a loss his first to years against Alabama, Fulmer then reeled off seven straight wins and nine wins in 10 years.

Of course, it isn’t just an issue with Alabama dominating the Vols. This program has had trouble with Saban himself dating back to his days with the LSU Tigers, when he went 2-1 against them, including costing them a shot at the national title with a huge upset in the 2001 SEC title.

Saban is on a 15-game winning streak against Rocky Top. Heupel reversing that trend may actually be harder than reversing the trend with Alabama. However, there is history with him doing such things as a player. If he can do it as a coach with Tennessee football, it would be his first step to becoming a legend on Rocky Top.