For Tennessee QB Joshua Dobbs, Saturday’s game against the No. 19 Oklahoma Sooners could mean more than a chance for his team to defeat a ranked opponent in a game that will attract a large national audience – it could mean the start of his Heisman campaign.

Any talk of Dobbs as a Heisman candidate probably makes a sizable population of SEC nation gag. First, a team that went 12-13 in the last two seasons gets hyped as a conference champion contender. Now, its quarterback is getting linked to college football’s highest individual honor.

But when considering Tennessee’s schedule, the narrative of past Heisman campaigns and Dobbs’ supporting cast, a trip to New York begins to look like a possibility. It all starts with the game against the Sooners.

While most non-championship bowls are dismissed as insignificant exhibition games, the TaxSlayer Bowl allowed Tennessee to acquire substantial momentum with a 45-28 win over Iowa. The common counter argument to the talk of the Volunteers being “back” is that they’ve yet to beat a quality opponent. A victory over Oklahoma would weaken that argument.

In the polls, the sky’s the limit for the No. 23 Volunteers if they get past OU. A win over Florida on Sept. 26 would snap a 10-year losing streak. A victory against No. 10 Georgia on Oct. 10 would establish UT as a contender in the SEC East. Defeating No. 2 Alabama on Oct. 24 would lead to playoff projections.

Winning against top teams will require outstanding play from Dobbs. The quarterback’s numbers from his six-game stint to finish the 2014 season (1,206 passing yards, 469 rushing yards, 15 combined touchdowns) convinced Tennessee coach Butch Jones that the plan for this season needed to be built around Dobbs. When it came time to replace outgoing offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian, Jones asked Dobbs to sit in on the interview with Mike DeBord.

If Tennessee becomes the breakout team of 2015, Dobbs’ national profile will rise in the media spotlight. The star quarterback of a team trending upward is a narrative that resonates with Heisman voters, as seen in recent winners (2010-2012) Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III and Johnny Manziel.

Similar to the above dual-threat quarterbacks, Dobbs makes plays with both his arm and his legs. He’s proven he can sling it with a combined 598 passing yards in back-to-back wins over South Carolina and Kentucky last season. And when the plays have broken down, he has frequently created excitement with his ability to scramble out of a collapsing pocket and find the open field. There are also plenty of designed runs for Dobbs, who led last year’s team with eight rushing touchdowns.

The Heisman is an individual award, but the supporting cast can make or break a player’s candidacy. Dobbs is surrounded by a wealth of talented pass catchers, highlighted by a trio of veteran wide receivers with four-star 247Sports composite recruiting rankings: junior Marquez North, sophomore Josh Malone and senior Pig Howard. There’s also Von Pearson, another strong option. Last week against Bowling Green, Dobbs’ go-to man for the big play was TE Ethan Wolf, who snagged a pair of touchdown receptions. Any and all of Dobbs’ targets could register big-time stats against an OU defense that ranked No. 117 last season in passing yards allowed.

Running backs Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara give him some excellent distractions, as defenses must pick their poison in the Tennessee running game.

The blueprint for transforming Dobbs into a Heisman candidate lays out a multi-step process of gaining momentum week by week as his team climbs the polls and the national media takes notice. The first step is guiding the Volunteers to victory against Oklahoma.