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| For the first time in 47 years, the University of Tennessee has captured the National Championship in Division I Football, defeating Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl on January 4, 1999 in Tempe, Arizona. Final Score: The University of Tennessee-23 Florida State-16. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Tennessee. But somewhere along the road, someone forgot to tell the UT football team this. This was and is a team with no super stars. One by one, week by week, the dream grew. People spoke about fate, about destiny, about LUCK. Faithful Vol fans everywhere wondered if this could be THE YEAR. It started on a hot Saturday in September at Syracuse with a come-from-behind miracle. Next up was Florida with an overtime victory over the Gators that wreaked havoc on Neyland Stadium and spawned a hilarious parody of the MasterCard commercial (shown only in Tennessee). And the march towards a perfect season continued. Close victories over Auburn and Arkansas... blow-outs over Houston, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Vanderbilt... the victory over Alabama in what is considered THE GAME on the third Saturday in October...the emotional, roller-coaster games with Arkansas and the Southeastern Conference Championship game in Atlanta over Mississippi State.....one by one, some great; some not so great, the dream grew and grew...dared we believe? The season was not without it's moments. Talented sophomore Jamal Lewis went down early in the season with a torn lateral collateral ligament and was lost for the rest of the year. Al Wilson suffered injury after injury, but persevered , only sitting out one game. Quarterback Tee Martin took several weeks to settle into his new role (vacated by Peyton Manning), and his numbers weren't that good. Some Vol fans called for his ouster, but he was not to be denied; having his breakthrough game at South Carolina, shattering every SEC and NCAA record for consecutive passes in a single game. Kentucky suffered a tragedy during the weekend before their game with Tennessee, causing some of the Vol faithful to speculate that their team would come out psyched up to beat the Vols. Vanderbilt fans began to boast about defeating the Vols and ruining their perfect season, despite the fact that the Commodores had not defeated Tennessee in years. The Vol faithful, ever mindful of the stunning loss to Memphis two years before, were taking nothing for granted and refused to look past the next game. But, the goal loomed and never waivered. One final "hit" was the recruitment of Offensive Coordinator David Cutcliffe by Ole Miss. He departed UT just before the SECCG, creating speculation that UT would be distracted by working under a new coordinator in a big game. The rest of the country talked about "questionable" calls against Syracuse, "blown calls" against Arkansas and missed calls by the officials in just about every game. But, the Vols were undaunted and pressed on to the goal. The drama continued in the shape of the newly created Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings that faithful Volunteers watched and agonized over week after week. A mish-mash of computer rankings and polls; some fair, some outrageous seemed to perplex and delight, creating heated dialogue on message boards throughout the country. Sportswriters all through the country either hated or loved the Vols, many who had never even seen a UT game! Their opinions seemed to shape the fledgling polls and statistics, often with confusing rationales. Win/losses, strength of schedule, quartile rankings (huh?) conference strengths... it all merged and converged week after week to give us the rankings, which were to determine who played for the National Championship. Tennessee climbed quietly and reached that elusive #1 ranking and STAYED THERE. The polls (ESPN and AP) flip-flopped. Sagarin admitted he made a mistake entering data, skewing the results decidedly in favor of other teams. The drama continued. A breakthrough Saturday happened in the form of Ohio State losing. There were only three undefeated teams heading into December 5th......Tennessee, UCLA and Kansas State. This was the final weekend of regular season play. Tennessee fans were afraid to breathe, holding a slim lead over UCLA and KS in the the BCS rankings. Then, it happened. UCLA lost to Miami in what was named the Hurricane Bowl (a rescheduled game to make up for one cancelled earlier in the season due to a hurricane). Then Kansas State lost to Texas A&M in overtime. We waited for the other shoe to drop! Tennessee stood alone at the top of the BCS....undefeated. But, during the SECCG, it looked as if Tennessee would also fall. But the Big Orange God was with the Vols. In the fourth quarter, a long pass from Tee Martin to Peerless Price and another score right on the heels of that one, the die was cast and the Vols emerged as the clear #1 team in the nation, setting up the Fiesta Bowl showdown in Tempe with Florida State. A glorious orange sun was setting over Sun Devil Stadium as the Vols took the field on January 5th, 1999. Tennesseans were worried about All-American Peter Warrick from FSU. He had put up some mighty numbers during the regular season! In a hard-fought defensive battle that wasn't pretty, the awesome Vol defense came through again, as they had done all season, shutting down Warrick and company and bringing home to Knoxville, Tennessee's first NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP in 47 years. The celebratory party will be delayed until January 30th, when the Vol faithful will fill the Mothership (Neyland Stadium) to give their respect and thank-you's to this talented and amazing group of young men. To pick out one person to thank is impossible. John Ward, the Voice of the Volunteers for 31 years spent his final year calling the play-by-play of each game. Volunteers around the world had the opportunity to listen and marvel over the VolNetwork. What a way to send John into retirement! We will miss you greatly! To Phil Fulmer, the Head Coach....thank you for grooming this fine bunch of young men into a memory that will last a lifetime! To Tee Martin, Peerless Price, Al Wilson, Shawn Bryson, Jeff Hall, Travis Stephens and every Vol whose name totally escapes me now, thank you for the thrill and the ride! The First 13-0 season was GLORIOUS! UT- 34 Syracuse-33 UT- 20 Florida-17 UT- 42 Houston-7 UT- 19 Auburn-9 UT- 22 Georgia-3 UT- 35 Alabama-18 UT- 49 South Carolina-14 UT- 37 UAlamaba-Birmingham- 13 UT- 28 Arkansas-24 UT- 59 Kentucky-21 UT- 41 Vanderbilt-0 UT-24 Mississippi State-14 UT- 23 Florida State-16 LINKS: www.govols.com www.knoxnews.com www.cnnsi.com www.espn.com |
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