Josh Heupel was on the other side of the country when Tennessee beat Florida State 23-16 for the national title on Jan. 4, 1999.

Heupel was a quarterback falling on the depth chart at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. He suffered a torn ACL in Weber State’s spring game that season and transferred to Snow College in Ephraim, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. He played well enough there to catch the eye of Bob Stoops.

Two years later, Heupel was the starting quarterback at Oklahoma, a Heisman runner-up and a national champion. The future Tennessee coach led the Sooners to the top of the mountain over Florida State. Ironic.

From community college in Ephraim, Utah, to national champion. Point is, Heupel knows all about a quick turnaround.

Oklahoma faced 6 top-25 teams in 2000, including No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Kansas State and the No. 3 Seminoles. Because of that journey, Heupel also knows what it takes to win. Tennessee will play 6 top-25 teams by the end of the regular season.

For all intents and purposes, Tennessee will know in 3 weeks if it is on its way to the College Football Playoff and, perhaps, Heupel’s shot at a 2nd national title. The next 3 weeks differentiate a great season from a historic one.

What a wild thought to process, considering the Vols’ 3-7 season just a few years ago.

The Vols are 4-8 after Alabama week since 2010, 6-9 since the 1st loss in the now-broken 15-year losing streak to the Crimson Tide. Mostly, that’s because the Vols have played middle-of-the-pack SEC teams such as South Carolina, Mizzou (in the early 2010s) and Kentucky. This year, the Vols have a nice and easy prep game against UT Martin ahead of a grueling Week 9 and 10.

Barring the most jarring upset in college football history, Tennessee can rest easy heading into its 3rd-biggest challenge of the season — Kentucky. An undervalued piece of Tennessee’s now very real march to the postseason starts in Week 8 against the Skyhawks. The Vols can take a bit of time to breathe and prepare.

Don’t let their loss against South Carolina fool you — the Kentucky Wildcats still have the makings of a top-25 team. They would be a top-10 team had Levis played against the Gamecocks. Their only loss on the season is to an undefeated Ole Miss squad gunning for a New Year’s 6 bowl. Even then, the Wildcats were 1 play away from winning.

Simply put, this is not your dad’s Kentucky.

But Week 9 is still the Vols’ to lose. Tennessee looks unbeatable within the walls of Neyland Stadium this season. It has exorcised 2 demons already against Florida and Alabama, and 101,915 will be in attendance for a night game 2 days before Halloween. I’d count on black jerseys there, by the way.

Directly following the Wildcats come the Bulldogs. Tennessee’s battle against Georgia in Athens is its version of 1998 against No. 10 Arkansas.

If we want to keep up the comparisons, Tennessee’s win against Alabama last Saturday could be equated to the Vols’ 1998 win over No. 2 Florida. The Gators had beaten the Vols 5 times in a row before Al Wilson and the Tennessee defense held the Gators to their 3rd-lowest point total of the season.

A familiar face — Florida State — held the Gators to their lowest total in a 23-12 win. That victory ultimately matched the Seminoles up against the Vols for the national title.

Tennessee also squeaked past a No. 17-ranked ACC team at the beginning of that season and had to face off against a top-10 Georgia team in Athens.

Twice has Tennessee played its most important game of the past 2 decades this season. The nature of winning those games demands a 3rd, a “Game of the Millennia” against Georgia in Week 10. Every coach in America has said it at one point: The next game is always the most important.

Don’t think for a second that Heupel is looking past UT Martin, even if he could. On Monday, Heupel said that his players got a “good dose of reality” from positional coaches, a sign that the Vols are locked in and ready to improve the few weaknesses they have.

Tennessee needs a stronger secondary to truly compete for a national title. It needs a stronger secondary to even think about reaching the SEC Championship Game. But that unit held up as well as it could against Alabama down 3 starters from 2 weeks ago. Kamal Hadden and Jaylen McCollough will return soon; it’s just a matter of when.

But even that may not matter in the regular season. If Hendon Hooker keeps playing like Heupel in 2000, it’s hard to imagine anyone, even Georgia’s defense, stopping this Vols offense from coming out on top.