Forget the old Tennessee formula. Josh Heupel may have found something better

Tennessee football added another top-10 ranked win to its quietly strong College Football Playoff resume in Week 10, defeating No. 7 Kentucky 34-6 on Saturday, Nov. 7.

The No. 13 Vols' dominant win over the sport's most surprising team this season raises the question: Is Tennessee being underrated?

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The Vols were upset by South Carolina 27-24 two weeks ago, but with how the Gamecocks are playing, that's not a bad loss by any means right now. Tennessee now has wins over No. 7 Kentucky (No. 6 CFP) and No. 9 Alabama (No. 5 CFP), along with a 3-point loss to Texas in its conference opener and a 3-point loss to South Carolina on the road.

Perhaps most importantly, is Tennessee finding its identity.

Sixth-year coach Josh Heupel doesn't have his typical high-powered offense this season and doesn't have a quarterback he trusts to carry the unit, either. But the Vols have paired one of the SEC's best rushing offenses (213 yards per game entering Saturday night) with a defense that has dazzled under first-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, whose havoc-causing scheme leads the SEC in sacks (39).

Heupel has found the offense's best course of action, too: Second-year quarterback George MacIntyre hasn't been prolific — he completed 9 of 14 passes for 125 yards with no touchdowns against the Wildcats — but the offense has found a new wrinkle with former starting quarterback Faizon Brandon, whose talents are being deployed to spell MacIntyre at times.

Brandon, who was benched in favor of MacIntyre midway through Tennessee's 24-14 win over Auburn earlier this season, threw a 24-yard touchdown and had a 29-yard rush against Kentucky, showcasing why he was a five-star recruit in the 2026 recruiting class.

Heupel cut his teeth in the Air Raid system, playing quarterback for Mike Leach and Mark Mangino at Oklahoma before leading potent offenses with high-end passers Sam Bradford, Dillon Gabriel and Hendon Hooker as a coach. His background makes it even more jarring seeing Tennessee thrash an opponent with only 15 pass attempts in a game.

Tennessee ran the ball 37 times for 240 yards with three touchdowns in the win, with star running back DeSean Bishop leading the way on 25 carries for 109 yards with two scores.

Tennessee's defense finished the night with a whopping eight tackles for loss, four of which came from star linebacker Arion Carter, who also totaled 13 tackles and two sacks in the win. Kentucky's six points scored is its lowest output of the season and least since scoring 17 in a loss to Alabama in its conference opener.

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The Vols still have a way to go, and there's a chance Kentucky has simply run out of gas after an unexpected start under first-year coach Will Stein. Tennessee has remaining games against Texas A&M, LSU and Vanderbilt, and wins in each would lock up a CFP spot for the Vols for the second time in three years.

It's a different-looking team than Heupel and Vols fans are used to, but one that might be being underrated a bit right now in the SEC race.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Forget the old Tennessee formula. Josh Heupel may have found something better