If you are chatting with Josh today, before he is full focus on undefeated Furman, ask if he has heard the Georgia State story. The Panthers are among the first hundred reasons Heupel has his job at Tennessee.
Here are some talking points:
Then coach Jeremy Pruitt, never mistaken for the smartest turnip in the patch, overlooked or ignored the fact that Georgia State was the opening foe on Tennessee’s 2019 schedule. He allegedly used practice time to give the Vols a head start in preparing for Game 2 against Brigham Young.
Georgia State, 26-point underdog, came quietly to Neyland Stadium the last day of that August and totally stunned the home team, 38-30. It was one of the worst embarrassments in the otherwise colorful history of the Volunteers.
(The loss to Chattanooga in 1958 was pretty bad, too. I’m not completely over the shocker at Memphis or that little setback at the hands – and feet – of North Texas State).
Georgia State, on paper, was bad. It had never beaten a big-time team. It was coming off a 2-10 season in which it lost the last seven games.
Tennessee had spent big in the offseason to get ready for 2019. Pruitt had upgraded his coaching staff. Does this sound familiar? New offensive coordinator Jim Chaney was to receive $1.5 million. New defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley had $1 million coming.
Georgia State was supposed to be a cupcake. SEC teams had won 82 in a row when favored by 25 or more against such foes.
Georgia State scored 17 in the fourth quarter. Overall, it out-rushed Tennessee 213-93. The Vols made the final score look make-believe respectable. They scored with two seconds remaining.
Reaction?
“I’ve got one word – flabbergasted,” Tennessee safety Nigel Warrior said.
Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano and linebacker Darrell Taylor said the Vols weren’t prepared for some of the stuff Georgia State showed.
On one play, Tennessee lined up with two defensive ends within inches of each other with no one on the other end of the line. That’s a junior high blunder.
“To me, the best team won the game,” Pruitt said. “The team that played the best, executed the best, outcoached us. It starts with that.”
Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott, speaking to the biggest crowd of reporters he had addressed, said “We were in better physical condition. We wore them down in the trenches.
“This is a big deal. This is the SEC. They say it means more,” Elliott added. “It meant more to us today.”
Tennessee had fair warning but nobody was alert. A very bad omen struck several hours before kickoff. A 42-foot cabin cruiser in the Vol Navy, docked in the Tennessee River near Neyland Stadium, caught fire and eventually sank.
Just in case bad boating might repeat itself, we could ask a fire truck to stand by on Friday night and be ready Saturday morning. Furman would not mind.
Game history could repeat but we all know it won’t. Georgia Tech is No. 2 on this Tennessee schedule. Heupel may have been tempted to steal some Furman prep time to get a head start on the Yellow Jackets but he is much too smart to totally ignore the 1-0 purple Paladins (knights, sometimes in full armor, on horses).
There is more positive reinforcement. Tennessee is paying Furman only $500,000 to try to tackle DeSean Bishop. Georgia State received $950,000 for what it did to Tennessee.
