Josh Heupel made no bones about it on Thursday afternoon in Nashville.
The rising three-year head coach of the Tennessee Football team believes that the Volunteers, compared to the Texas Longhorns, are the real U.T. team.
During the 2023 SEC Media Days event in Nashville on Thursday afternoon, Heupel was asked by the media which team between Tennessee and Texas has the “real claim” to the U.T. nickname. The Longhorns, along with the University of Oklahoma, will be added to the SEC during the summer of 2024.
“There’s only one real UT,” Heupel said in a short-and-sweet response. “One right shade of orange.”
Tennessee fans and Texas fans have gone back and forth for quite some time over the U.T. moniker but, for the most part, the two have always been on opposite sides of the river with Texas in the Big 12 and Tennessee in the SEC. That’s all set to change in 2024, though. The Longhorns and the Sooners will officially make for the SEC’s 15th and 16th conference teams during the summer of 2024.
In three matchups between Tennessee and Texas, all coming within an 18-year stretch from 1950 to 1968, the Vols took the first game in 1951 with Texas taking the next two in 1953 and 1969, respectively.
The Vols and the Longhorns are knotted up at four wins each on the hardwood, which has games that are much closer to today’s date as opposed to football. Tennessee took the first game back in 1952 with Texas taking the next two games. Tennessee won two after that, followed by Texas winning two games in a row until the Vols’ snapped that streak with an 82-71 win over the Longhorns in Knoxville this past spring.
“There’s only one real U.T.
Only one right shade of orange.”
Josh Heupel after being asked who claims U.T. following the arrival of Texas next summer.
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) July 20, 2023
One Response
Everyone knows that if it weren’t for the Tennessee Volunteers, they’d be the University of Mexico.