Tennessee Vols HC Josh Heupel drops quote that proves he's one of the most competitive coaches in college football

For the last couple of weeks, there's been a lot of conversation about conference championship games and whether or not it's worth playing in them. 

The idea is that if a bubble playoff team plays in a conference championship game and loses, they could be left out of the College Football Playoff. 

That didn't happen in 2024 -- the losers of the Big 10, ACC, and SEC championship games all made the playoff -- but it's a scenario that could be in play in future seasons. 

“I’ve talked to other coaches, so I’ll just kind of give you the feeling from some other coaches that, they don’t want to be in it," said Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin about conference championship games last month. "You know, the reward to get a bye versus the risk to get knocked out completely. I mean...that’s a really big risk."

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel apparently wasn't one of the coaches that Kiffin spoke to about conference championship games. 

Heupel told reporters on Sunday, after the Vols secured the No. 9 seed in the 2024 College Football Playoff, that his team was disappointed that it didn't get to play in the SEC Championship game this season. 

“For us inside of this program, playing in Atlanta is one of the first goals that we have as a program," said Heupel. "Disappointed we weren’t able to be there."

That's gotta be a refreshing quote for Vols fans to hear. Trying to manipulate the path to the playoff isn't the right approach for a head coach. The mindset has to be to compete anywhere at any place without any fear of the consequence of losing. And that's the way Heupel approaches it. 

You can't achieve great things without competing at the highest level, and Heupel clearly lives by that ethos. It's a big reason why he has Tennessee positioned to compete for a national championship this winter.