Tennessee football committed a season-high three turnovers to suffer a 33-27 loss to Oklahoma on Nov. 1 and drop out of the College Football Playoff race.
The 14th-ranked Vols (6-3, 3-3 SEC) squandered early scoring chances and gave No. 18 Oklahoma (7-2, 3-2) ample opportunities to steal the game.
UT quarterback Joey Aguilar tossed two interceptions, and his fumble was returned for a touchdown. Meanwhile, Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell made all four field goal attempts from 40 yards, 51 yards and twice from 55 yards.
The loss especially stung for UT coach Josh Heupel, who led Oklahoma to the 2000 national title as a Heisman Trophy runner-up quarterback. His team’s third loss of the season puts a second straight playoff bid out of reach.
Tennessee heads into an off week before hosting New Mexico State on Nov. 15 (4:15 p.m., SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium. Before turning toward that break, here are five takeaways from this loss to Oklahoma.
Tennessee never recovered from mistake-filled first half
Tennessee outgained Oklahoma 255 yards to 99 yards in the first half. And it had 17 first downs to Oklahoma’s five first downs. Yet, the Vols trailed 16-10 on the scoreboard at halftime.
Several unforced errors by UT led to that discrepancy, including two interceptions, a missed field goal and a fumble returned by Oklahoma for a touchdown.
In a game that felt like UT led by multiple scores, it instead trailed at halftime.
Oklahoma’s record-long fumble return started the mistakes
On a strange play, Oklahoma tied the game 7-7 on defensive end R Mason Thomas’ 71-yard fumble return for a TD. Linebacker Owen Heinecke came on a free rush off the edge. It appeared that freshman right tackle David Sanders was unsure of his assignment, and he whiffed trying to block Heinecke.
Heinecke hit Aguilar and forced the fumble, which Thomas scooped. Tight end Miles Kitselman failed to tackle Thomas, who suffered an injury and limped down the sideline for the TD. It was the longest fumble return in Oklahoma history.
In the second quarter, Aguilar tossed two interceptions. Both were returned 37 yards and set up Oklahoma field goals.
Josh Heupel has losing record vs. Top 25 opponents
Heupel’s record dropped to 11-12 against ranked opponents at Tennessee, including a 4-5 mark at home. Against Top 25 teams, he is 3-0 at neutral site games and 4-7 on the road.
The Vols fell out of playoff contention because they lost to all three ranked opponents they faced this season: Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma.
Joey Aguilar committed three costly turnovers
Aguilar was 29-of-45 passing for 393 yards, three TDs and two interceptions in an up-and-down performance, and he lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
Nevertheless, Aguilar hit some notable benchmarks in his career and UT history.
Aguilar became the fifth UT quarterback to record at least four 300-yard passing games in a season. He joined Peyton Manning, Tyler Bray, Hendon Hooker and Andy Kelly. Manning holds the school record with 10 300-yard passing games in the 1997 season, when he was the Heisman Trophy runner-up.
Aguilar also moved into 11th place on UT’s single-season list for TD passes with his 21st. Manning holds the school record with 36 TD passes in 1997.
And Aguilar has passed for at least 200 yards in all 33 starts of his Division I career, including nine at UT and 24 at Appalachian State. That’s the longest active streak in FBS.
Neyland Stadium crowd witnessed rare home loss
It was Tennessee’s first home loss to a team other than Georgia in the past four seasons.
In that way, Heupel’s teams seemed almost invincible at Neyland Stadium. But a sellout crowd witnessed this frustrating rare loss.
Heupel fell to 28-6 at Neyland Stadium during his tenure, which began in 2021. He’s had only three losses in the past 28 home games, losing to Georgia in 2023 and 2025 and to Oklahoma in this one.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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