Nico Iamaleava took a knee as the final seconds ran out at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium. The scoreboard read: Tennessee 25, Oklahoma 15.
Iamaleava tucked the ball, ran to the sideline and put it in the chest of his head coach Josh Heupel. 10 years after his alma mater fired him as offensive coordinator, Heupel’s fourth Tennessee team improved to 4-0 and spoiled No. 15 Oklahoma’s first game in the SEC.
What a moment between Nico and Heupel pic.twitter.com/avLOtvp0IZ
— CHANNEL TN (@CHANNEL_TN_) September 22, 2024
Heupel downplayed the significance of his return to his alma mater, where he was the starting quarterback on the Sooners’ 2000 National Championship team, all week. But it was evident that Tennessee’s players knew that Heupel was returning home and knew that Oklahoma fired Heupel a decade ago.
More From RTI: Four Quick Takeaways As Tennessee Defense Suffocates Oklahoma
According to RTI’s Ric Butler, the celebration in the Tennessee locker room was loud after the game as the team celebrated the big win and Heupel’s successful return.
“This game coming back, for our football team, wasn’t about me,” Heupel said about Iamaleava giving him the game ball. “It was about this ’24 journey and our football team. They realized it was important for me coming back and that I wanted to get a win.”
It was an uncharacteristic game for a Heupel team. Tennessee leaned on its defense and played very conservative offensively due to the flow of the game. The Vols were down both starting offensive tackles and struggled to block Oklahoma’s stout defensive ends.
After a pair of first half strip sacks, Tennessee largely took the air out of the ball as they tried to limit mistakes in the second half. Heupel knew he could lean on his defense to win the game and that’s exactly what happened.
Oklahoma benched starting quarterback Jackson Arnold late in the first half as the Vols forced three turnovers. The Sooners offense failed to total 225 yards and had less then 100 yards entering the fourth quarter. Tennessee’s defensive line dominated up front, taking away the run game and totaling three sacks.
Tennessee now enters its first open date of the season 4-0 (1-0 SEC) and will look to get healthy ahead of a road trip to Arkansas out of the open date.
