Vols’s Owners Brutally Terminated Josh Heupel’s Contract For Breach Of…

Josh Heupel learned a big lesson on Saturday night about being the Tennessee Vols’ head coach.

It doesn’t matter how good Tennessee is or how bad Florida is, it’s never ever going to be easy against the Gators.

The Florida team that beat the Vols 29-16 on Saturday night in Gainesville isn’t a College Football Playoff caliber team. And they probably won’t seriously threaten Georgia in the SEC East.

But despite not being one of the better Florida teams that we’ve seen over the last couple of decades, they still handled business in the Swamp against the Vols — just like the nine previous trips that Tennessee made to Gainesville.

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It doesn’t matter who the coach is at Tennessee, the results always seem to be the same.

The good news for Heupel is that he can still be a legend at Tennessee without being dominant against Florida. Just ask Peyton Manning (never beat Florida) and Phillip Fulmer (5-12 against Florida).

Now, Heupel will have to beat Florida from time to time if he’s going to accomplish something special at UT. And he’ll have to beat them in the Swamp at some point (and he eventually will). But no one should be throwing shade at Heupel for struggling on the road against the Gators on Saturday night. It’s just the way it’s been for the last 30 years. Some great Tennessee teams have had similar experiences.

Unfortunately for Heupel and the Vols, the recent history of this rivalry — the dominance of Florida — has become a story that’s as big as the actual game. And that story has worked its way into the psyche of everyone associated with Tennessee. The Vols will eventually break through in Gainesville under Heupel, but it’s going to take a special performance from a championship-caliber roster based on what we’ve seen since the early 1990s.

Sorry Heupel, it’s just how it is when it comes to Florida.

Josh Heupel explains bizarre sequence at the end of Tennessee’s loss to Florida
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Featured image via Kim Klement Neitzel.