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Wheelock explains pretty well the word order in a Latin sentence pretty well , assuming no unusual emphasis , but what about the placement of expressions of time?

Probably right before the verb, by the conventional belief in a proper word order. But, I disagree with the idea - there is no "unusual emphasis" in "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres", and yet the verb is the second word. Then, look to the next sentence, "quarum unum incolunt Belgae".

That isn't to say that the final-position of the verb isn't more common, but rather that the idea that it is the "correct" non-emphatic word order seems flawed to me.

The verb sum is the copula. It does not function like other verbs viz word order. Latin word order does follow a rule of sorts: most important thing first, second most important thing second, other important things at the end, final word is emphatic, penultimate less emphatic, antepenultimate even less emphatic. A similar progression is at work within clauses within periods.