Tennessee football spent the weekend relaxing and getting healthy during its lone open date of the 2023 season. The open date came at a good time as Josh Heupel’s third Tennessee team needed rest to get healthy ahead of a critical SEC stretch.
Coming out of the open date, Tennessee plays three straight SEC games including the latter two on the road. That adds even more importance to the Vols’ week seven matchup against Texas A&M at Neyland Stadium.
The Aggies (4-2, 2-1 SEC) are coming off a challenging stretch of schedule including wins over Auburn and Arkansas and a loss last weekend against Alabama. Texas A&M’s 26-20 loss against the Crimson Tide was a physically and emotionally draining one and the Aggies trip to Knoxville is their last game before the open date.
Tennessee is rested and Texas A&M is coming off a challenging stretch. But that’s not where the good news stops for the Vols.
Josh Heupel and his teams are stellar coming off open dates in his first five seasons as a head coach.
Heupel is 7-1 coming off open dates in his head coaching career including a 2-0 record in his two games coming off an open date while at Tennessee.
In Heupel’s first season in Knoxville, Tennessee defeated No. 18 Kentucky, 45-42, in Lexington. The win marked Heupel’s first ranked win as Tennessee’s head coach. Last year, Tennessee kicked off a brilliant October by dominating No. 25 LSU 40-13 in Baton Rouge.
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While the third-year Tennessee coach earned two of his best wins early in his Volunteer tenure coming off an open date, his success dates back to his Central Florida tenure.
In his first year as head coach at Central Florida, Heupel went 2-0 coming off open dates. The Knights defeated Lane Kiffin and FAU, 56-36, after inclement weather canceled UCF’s game against North Carolina the week earlier. UCF defeated Temple, 52-40, after its traditional open date later that season.
Heupel followed up his success coming off open dates in 2019 when UCF defeated East Carolina, 41-28, and Tulane, 34-31.
The second year Tennessee head coach suffered his only defeat after a bye week in 2020 when UCF fell, 50-49, against Memphis. Heupel got things back on track later in the season when the Knights defeated Temple, 38-13.
The offensive minded head coach has had fantastic offensive game plans coming off open dates. Heupel’s teams are averaging 44.5 points per game in the eight games scoring at least 34 points in all eight contests.
Tennessee needs a good offensive plan against a strong Aggies defense. Texas A&M’s run defense has been stout this season and the Vols have leaned on their run game to move the football.
Kickoff at Neyland Stadium is at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. CBS is broadcasting the game.
