Josh Heupel's return to Oklahoma is a country song come to life: On the Line

In 1994, Marcus Hummon, Jeff Hanna and Bobby Boyd got together and wrote a stone-cold country classic. Hanna's Nitty Gritty Dirt Band first performed their song later that year and it's since been covered by a number of artists, most notably by Rascal Flatts, whose version of Hummon, Hanna and Boyd's creation reached No. 1 in 2004. 

Josh Heupel probably hasn't thought of "Bless the Broken Road" this week, but I have.

Huepel had to know it was coming, back in the early days of 2015. Oklahoma was days removed from the lowest point of the Bob Stoops era -- a 40-6 loss to Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Heupel's offense was humiliated by Brent Venables's defense, gaining all of 275 yards while turning the ball over five times. The loss capped off an 8-5 season, a year that saw four Big 12 losses -- the most in the Stoops era.

And so, in the days following the Russell Athletic Bowl, Bob Stoops fired Josh Heupel, along with co-coordinator Jay Norvell. 

Heupel, 36 years old at the time, had given almost all of his adult life to the Oklahoma football program. In 2000 quarterbacked the Sooners to their first (and only) national championship since 1985, then joined the coaching staff as a GA in 2004. He joined the full-time staff in 2006, and ascended to offensive coordinator in 2011. He'd tutored Sam Bradford to a Heisman Trophy in 2008, and as play-caller his offenses averaged 475 yards a game. Surely, at some point the thought crossed Heupel's mind that he'd one day succeed Stoops as his alma mater's head coach; after all, that exact thing happened in 2017 -- only, with Lincoln Riley wearing the crown, not him.

Heupel landed a job immediately as Utah State's assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, but when the center of your universe is Norman, Okla., Logan, Utah might as well be the surface of the moon.

When Heupel landed the head coaching job at UCF in 2018, he hadn't spoken to Stoops in three years.

Upon landing the Tennessee job in 2021, Heupel said he appreciated his firing for what it was. “It gave me a chance, in some ways, just to restart and look at what I wanted to do on the offensive side of the football," he said.

Heupel would not be the head coach at Tennessee today if Stoops hadn't fired him in 2015. The broken road led Heupel back to Norman, coaching perhaps the best team in the country. He appreciates that now, even if he surely didn't nearly a decade ago.

"There's so many people that have been a huge part of my journey, hopefully I get a chance to go back and say hi to them," Heupel said this week. "I wouldn't be here today if I didn't have all those experiences."

All that said, Heupel is going to try to score 100 on No. 15 Oklahoma on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC). He may not get there, but it won't be for a lack of trying.

USC opens Big Ten play in the Big House. When it was announced Texas would join the SEC back in 2021, it was assumed the Longhorns were going to get their teeth kicked in. UT's conference opener isn't until next week but, barring one of the most shocking upsets in college football history, they'll play their first SEC game as the AP No. 1 team in the country.

A similar dynamic is playing out at USC. Lincoln Riley's Trojans went 5-7 last season with a defense that couldn't stop a toddler's nose from running, and now they were about to play in the big, bad Big Ten? 

Now, as USC opens B1G play, it's hard to imagine how No. 18 Michigan stays on the field with the 11th-ranked Trojans (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS). Michigan benched presumptive starter Alex Orji in training camp, presumably because he couldn't credibly throw the football at the major college football level. His replacement, Davis Warren, was well on his way to throwing Michigan to a bowl-less season, and so now Orji will start Saturday. 

Orji will throw -- or try to throw -- against a defense that appears to be legitimately good. The Trojans limited LSU to 20 points, then shut out Utah State in their two games thus far. After ranking 119th against the run a year ago, D'Anton Lynn's unit is up to 33rd to this point. 

If and when USC runs away from Michigan, talk will begin about this team being as a favorite to at least play for a Big Ten championship. Look at this schedule: road trips to Washington and UCLA means that, after Saturday, USC "only" has to leave the West Coast twice more this season. The Trojans do not play Ohio State or Oregon, either. 

Oklahoma State and Utah meet for the first time since 1945, and I know what you're thinking: No, niether Mike Gundy nor Kyle Whittingham coached in that game.

Gundy and Whittingham are the second- and third-longest tenured head coaches in FBS. Both men took over full-time beginning with the 2005 season; Saturday is Gundy's 249th game at Oklahoma State, and Whittingham's 245th at Utah. Both men also have long histories with their respective institutions before they moved into the big chair. Gundy has seen Oklahoma State through several versions of the Big 12, while Saturday begins Utah's third conference membership of Whittingham's tenure. 

Whittingham has led the Utes to Mountain West and Pac-12 titles, and Saturday's game between No. 12 Utah and No. 14 Oklahoma State (4 p.m. ET, Fox) will go a long way toward determining who plays for this season's Big 12 championship. 

Only one conference game has been played thus far -- UCF's 35-34 comeback win over TCU last week in Fort Worth -- but already much has been revealed as to who can actually make it to Arlington. Kansas State exposed Arizona in a non-conference game. Utah did the same to Baylor. Arizona State has been one of the nation's biggest surprises, but it's still a long shot that the Big 12's 16th team in the preseason poll can survive a 9-game season. 

Texas Tech, Cincinnati, Houston, West Virginia, Colorado, TCU, BYU and Kansas have all shown fatal flaws. That leaves these two, plus K-State and Iowa State, in the conference's top tier. Oklahoma State goes to Manhattan next week, which means wins in both games put the Cowboys in the cat bird seat, with no ranked teams left on the schedule. Utah, too, plays one ranked team after Oklahoma State. 

Oklahoma State, with an veteran offensive line and the reigning Doak Walker Award winner, ranks 108th nationally in yards per carry. Arkansas and Tulsa held Ollie Gordon to 90 yards, combined. Tough to see Oklahoma State winning if that continues. 

Illinois-Nebraska in a ranked matchup. For real. Illinois, back in the AP Top 25 for just the second time since 2011, faces a Nebraska team ranked the first time since 2019. Bret Bielema's team seeks its first 4-0 start since that 2011 season, while Nebraska is in search of its first 4-0 start since 2016.

Nebraska has been statistically more impressive thus far -- 18th nationally in net yards per play, 10th in net points per drive -- with the added caveat that the Illini's 23-17 win over Kansas is the most impressive feat accomplished by the two teams yet. 

Illinois has swiped six interceptions thus far, while their own quarterback Luke Altmyer has taken care of the ball, hitting 70 percent of his throws for six touchdowns and no picks. Nebraska's Dylan Raiola has done well in that department (5 TDs vs. 1 INT), but this game (8 p.m. ET Friday, Fox) hinges on who takes care of the football in a game where the first to 17 points likely wins.

Additional Games: 

-- South Alabama at Appalachian State (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): The first Sun Belt game of the season pits the nation's 106th scoring defense against the 107th. Both numbers are artificially buoyed by limiting FCS foes to 10 apiece (South Alabama, you may recall, scored 87 on poor Northwestern State). Take the over. 

-- Stanford at Syracuse (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): A conference road game that begins at 4:30 local time on a Friday, 2,800 miles from campus. No further comment.

-- San Jose State at Washington State (10 p.m. ET, The CW): In one of six games this weekend pitting 3-0 teams, Washington State exorcised some realignment demons last week in beating Washington 24-19, and now SJSU gets a chance to do the same following the Pac-2's heist of four Mountain West schools. 

-- Marshall at No. 3 Ohio State (noon ET, Fox): No offense to Marshall, but shame on Fox for putting this game in the Big Noon slot over Utah-Oklahoma State. 

-- NC State at No. 21 Clemson (noon ET, ABC): NC State has won the last two meetings in Raleigh, but the Wolfpack haven't won at Clemson in 22 years. True freshman CJ Bailey takes over for NC State for injured sixth-year senior Grayson McCall, but the Pack wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire with McCall. Either way, it's a tough spot for Dave Doeren's team.

-- Florida at Mississippi State (noon ET, ESPN): As FootballScoop's Doug Samuels said, in our Slack channel discussion on Florida, "They have a Get Right Game coming against Mississippi State." Scott Roussel: "Mississippi State is thinking the same thing."

-- Kansas at West Virginia (noon ET, ESPN2): Lance Leipold has accomplished an incredibly difficult thing -- he's made the act of Kansas losing a game surprising. If their quarterback play doesn't improve, I fear by October it won't be surprising when KU drops a game. At 1-2, an 8-4 season is still on the table for the Jayhawks, but so is 4-8.

-- Kent State at No. 10 Penn State (3:30 p.m. ET, BTN): I know it's not easy to keep a MAC athletics department solvent these days, but what chances does Kent State's team have to actually compete for a conference title when the AD sends them to Pittsburgh, Knoxville and State College to open the season? Granted, competing for a conference title might be an unrealistic hope considering the Flashes lost their only home non-conference game to St. Francis.

-- Arkansas at Auburn (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): Like Florida-Mississippi State, though not as dire. Both teams open SEC play carrying a loss they shouldn't -- Arkansas having blown a massive yardage advantage to Oklahoma State, Auburn falling at home to Cal. Arkansas has six AP Top 25 opponents ahead, Auburn five. The loser of this game is probably missing a bowl game. 

-- UCLA at No. 16 LSU (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC): A non-conference trip to Death Valley is just about the last thing this UCLA team needs, having already nearly lost at Hawai'i outside of Big Ten play. Seriously: DeShaun Foster's team's next two games are home against Oregon and at Penn State. Indiana beat this team by 29 last week, at home. Where is John Currie when you need him?

-- Rutgers at Virginia Tech (3:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network): Virginia Tech leads this series 12-4 all-time, but Rutgers won 35-16 last year in Piscataway, and Brent Pry (12-15 overall) has already lost to Vanderbilt this year. If he adds a Rutgers loss to that? Look out. 

-- Memphis at Navy (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network): Another 3-0 vs. 3-0 game, as Memphis looks to move past its Florida State win with an interesting mental and physical challenge. Ryan Silverfield is 4-0 against the Midshipmen. 

-- No. 8 Miami at South Florida (7 p.m. ET, ESPN): First Miami-Florida, now this. All these non-conference Florida games are delicious, and now we get a USF team that pushed Alabama at home against the Canes for just the third time ever.

-- TCU at SMU (5 p.m. ET, The CW): It's TCU's final scheduled visit to Dallas, in a move that's welcome for TCU head coach (and former SMU head coach) Sonny Dykes and no one else. The Frogs indefinitely paused their participation in a rivalry born in 1915, which wouldn't be allowed in a sane world. Aside from that, both coaches need this game.

SMU bought its way into the Power 4 neighborhood, but a loss would hand them six straight defeats against P4 teams heading into their inaugural ACC season. Dykes, meanwhile, would be 8-11 in his last 19 games following his 12-0 start at TCU. 

-- Cal at Florida State (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2): I have two things to say about this game. 1: Cal leads the nation with nine interceptions, while Mike Norvell oddly refuses to sit DJ Uiagaleilei. 2: If Cal wins this game, spend some time perusing Cal Twitter. You won't regret it.

-- Baylor at Colorado (8 p.m. ET, Fox): Last week's Colorado State game drew the lowest rating yet for a Prime Show game on network television. Has the nation moved on, or was an easy win over Colorado State just not interesting to the masses? 

Also, in a note that interests me and perhaps only me, this is Baylor's fourth straight game against a team from Colorado or Utah. The Bears visited Utah on Sept. 7, hosted Air Force last week, and hosts BYU next week. 

-- Michigan State at Boston College (8 p.m. ET, ACC Network): In BC's third game in four weeks against a Power 4 opponent, the Eagles look to knock down perhaps the shakiest 3-0 team in the nation. Michigan State ranks 93rd nationally 

-- Portland State at Boise State (9:45 p.m. ET, FS1): Boise State assistant QBs coach Steve Cooper was Portland State's offensive coordinator when the Vikings set a record for the largest FCS-over-FBS win, a 66-7 drubbing of North Texas in 2015. Now he tries to prevent his former team from doing the same to his current team. 

-- No. 13 Kansas State at BYU (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): The sixth and final game pitting 3-0 teams