Running off at the typewriter …

Josh Heupel is certainly not making life any easier for Billy Napier, Mario Cristobal and Mike Norvell — three college football coaches in Florida who are in different stages of trying to rebuild once-proud programs.

Napier and Cristobal are in their first seasons at Florida and Miami, respectively, while Norvell is in Year 3 at Florida State. Hey, fellas, I’m not trying to make your jobs any more high pressure than they already are, but Heupel is proving at Tennessee that it doesn’t take that long to rebuild a broken program.

In a year-and-a-half, Heupel has taken over a tire fire in Knoxville and now has the Vols ranked No. 1 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings that came out earlier this week. Moreover, the Heup Machine is a blast to watch and is scoring more points and compiling more yards than any offense in the country.

And it certainly seems as if Heupel took over a program at Tennessee that was in worse shape than the ones Napier, Cristobal and Norvell inherited.

Case in point: The year before Heupel arrived from UCF, Tennessee recorded its worst record (3-7) in more than 100 years and was entangled in a nasty NCAA investigation that cost former coach Jeremy Pruitt his job. When Pruitt was fired amid the NCAA probe, more than two dozen Tennessee players flocked into the transfer portal.

Heupel quickly replenished the UT roster with transfers of his own (see quarterback Hendon Hooker, the current favorite to win the Heisman Trophy), went 7-6 in his first season and now has the Vols 8-0 heading into Saturday’s SEC showdown at No. 3-ranked Georgia.

Certainly, we’ve seen great coaches of the past have similar turnarounds. Nick Saban went 12-2 in his second year at Alabama and 14-0 with a national title in his third season. Urban Meyer won the national championship in his second year at Florida. Kirby Smart played for the national championship in his second year at Georgia.

However, with the massive influx of players entering the transfer portal each year, programs can seemingly be rebuilt much faster in today’s college football.

If Heupel can do it this quickly, why not Napier, Cristobal and Norvell? ...

Short stuff: Mikey likes: Florida State over Miami by 14, UCF over Memphis by 1, Texas A&M over Florida by 5, Temple over USF by 2, Tennessee over Georgia by 7 in Upset Special, LSU over Alabama by 3 in Upset Special II, Dolphins over Bears by 10, Raiders over Jaguars by 2, Rams over Bucs by 5 in Upset Special III, Leftover Halloween Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups over Kit Kats by 4 (cavities). … It was maddening watching the Orlando Magic not value their possessions and carelessly turn the ball over 25 times the other night in a loss at Oklahoma City. Maybe Magic coach Jamahl Mosley needs to channel his inner John Heisman, the legendary football coach at Georgia Tech who once told his players, “Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small child than to fumble this football.” …

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The new name of Orlando’s XFL team — the Guardians — is OK, but I think it should have been more Central Florida-themed. Here are my top three Orlando-centric nicknames: (1) The Orlando Humidity; (2) The Orlando Rent Controllers; (3) The Orlando Tourist Trappers. ... Is it just me or is Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence starting to make you long for the days of Minshew Mania? … Now that the Miami Dolphins have made such a major move at the trade deadline, they have a new mantra for their defensive line: “Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Three Men and a Chubb.” … In the wake of Tom Brady and wife Gisele both publicly announcing their divorce a few days ago, I’m reminded of my favorite celebrity quote about dissolving a marriage. It comes from the late, great Zsa Zsa Gabor, who was married eight times: “I am a marvelous housekeeper,” Zsa Zsa once said. “Every time I leave a man, I keep his house.” …

So let me see if I’ve got this straight: the NBA has allowed Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving to get away with publicly endorsing an antisemitic book and movie and now will allow the Nets to hire a new coach — Ume Idoka — who was in the midst of a season-long suspension by the Boston Celtics for sexual misconduct in the workplace? Can you imagine the outcry if the NFL tried to pull off a stunt like this? … Two years ago, Auburn fired Gus Malzahn and bought out his contract for $21 million and now the school has fired Bryan Harsin and bought out his contract for $18 million. This is why I have changed my stance on why colleges should compensate players. If they can pay coaches mega-millions not to coach, then they can certainly pay players a reasonable salary for literally putting their necks on the line every Saturday. …

Mark Long, a reporter who covers the University of Florida for the Associated Press, is feeling the wrath of UF’s Twitter mob after he was overheard on a hot mic earlier this week saying, “I’ll be here longer than Billy Napier, I can promise you that.” I don’t know why UF fans are so upset. Long has been through six Florida coaches in 18 years of covering the Gators. I would say his assessment is probably pretty accurate. … Early in the season, we were jibber-jabbering about the potential of UF’s Anthony Richardson, Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke and UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee, but, for my money, FSU’s Jordan Travis quietly has emerged as the best college quarterback in Florida. … Did you see the wall-hugging, pedal-to-the-metal move Ross Chastain made on the final lap Sunday to get the fourth and final spot in NASCAR’s championship race? I haven’t seen such a daring maneuver in a car since I put the move on my high school girlfriend in the back seat of my mom’s Pontiac Catalina. …

Last word: From David Whitley of the Gainesville Sun: “Stud of the Week: Brett Yormark. The Big 12 commissioner nailed down a $2.3 billion TV deal with ESPN and Fox, which is almost double the current contract. Yormark reportedly promised TV execs that UCF and Houston will wear Texas and Oklahoma uniforms for the duration of the contract.”

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and HD 101.1-2