The 2024 SEC slate features several games that are going to be incredibly hyped, such as Georgia at Alabama, Georgia at Texas, Alabama at LSU, Alabama at Oklahoma, and Texas at Texas A&M.
But it's a game on the Tennessee Vols' schedule that should be the most hyped college football game of the 2024 season.
The previously mentioned matchups should all be fun to watch, but there isn't a game on that list that has storylines as compelling as the ones we'll get with Tennessee's road matchup against the Oklahoma Sooners on September 21.
For starters, it will be Josh Heupel's first time back at Oklahoma since he was unceremoniously fired after the 2014 season after serving as an assistant under Bob Stoops for 10 seasons.
Heupel was Oklahoma's quarterback in 2000 when the Sooners won their only national championship under Stoops, but he was let go as OU's offensive coordinator after the 2014 season despite the team averaging 36.4 points per game.
Stoops still speaks highly of Heupel -- as recently as two weeks ago he publicly talked about Heupel's elite leadership/competitiveness -- but the relationship between the two is believed to be essentially non-existent.
Heupel will walk back into a stadium where he's revered, but where he was also once told he wasn't wanted anymore. I'm sure there will be some sort of video tribute to the only Sooners quarterback that's hoisted a national trophy over the last 30 years. I can't imagine what kind of emotions Heupel will be feeling that day. It's obviously a place that's important to him, but it will also be one of the most important games on the Vols' schedule in 2024. It's basically a must-win game if Tennessee is going to make the 12-team playoff next season (especially with games against Alabama, Florida, and Georgia coming later in the season).
Stoops will likely be in attendance, too, which will add further intrigue to a game already ripe with storylines. Stoops is still heavily connected to the Oklahoma football program, appearing on various radio shows in the Norman-area weekly to discuss Sooners football. Will there be a pre-game interaction between Stoops and Heupel? All eyes will certainly be on the field ahead of the matchup to see if a much-anticipated reunion happens.
Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Seth Littrell, Heupel's former teammate and co-captain on Oklahoma's 2000 national championship team, will be calling plays for the Sooners next season.
Transfer portal news adds to the hype for Tennessee vs Oklahoma
Earlier this month, some transfer portal news added another big storyline to Tennessee's game against Oklahoma in 2024.
Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel, a former Heupel-coached quarterback at UCF, announced his transfer to Oregon.
Gabriel's decision to leave Oklahoma means that former five-star recruit Jackson Arnold will serve as the Sooners' starting quarterback in 2024.
That sets up a showdown between two of the top recruits in the 2024 class -- Arnold and Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Arnold was rated by On3 as the No. 3 quarterback in the nation and the No. 6 overall player in the 2023 recruiting class while Iamaleava was rated by On3 as the No. 1 overall player in the 2023 recruiting class.
Both quarterbacks saw limited action in 2023 (Arnold will be a sophomore after appearing in five regular season games while Nico will be a redshirt freshman) with Arnold attempting 26 passes and Iamaleava attempting 24 passes.
Arnold will get the start for Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl against Arizona later this month. But the matchup between the Sooners and the Vols will be the first career SEC start for both quarterbacks. It's not often that you get a high-profile head-to-head matchup between two of the top quarterbacks from a recent recruiting class, but that's exactly what we'll get next September in Norman.
The stakes will be high when Georgia plays Alabama and Texas, but there isn't a game on the schedule that has better storylines in 2024 than Tennessee vs Oklahoma.
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