By Tom Mattingly
Would an 11-2 record overall, along with an SEC title, a Top 10 finish, and a BCS bowl bid be satisfactory to the Vol fan base in today’s college football environment? Every game now appears to be an “elimination game,” with the perception of the season’s success or failure riding on nearly every snap.
That was the record in 1997, an exciting season more than a few Vol fans don’t immediately recall as one of the school’s best. It’s hard to believe that is the case.
The games were exciting, as always, with capacity crowds present at Neyland Stadium and wherever else the Vols might have played, but that was nearly 30 years ago, ancient history to many in the fan base.
That season, the Vols knocked off Texas Tech (52-17) and won at UCLA (30-24), kicking off a 9-game win streak, defeating Ole Miss (31-17), Georgia (38-13), at Alabama (38-21), South Carolina (22-7), Southern Miss. (44-20), at Arkansas (30-22), at Kentucky (59-31), and Vanderbilt (17-10) in the regular season, and against Auburn (30-29) in the SEC title game. The losses were at Florida (33-20) and Nebraska (42-17), the latter game in the 1998 Orange Bowl.
Our bottom line is that 11 wins are quite an accomplishment against SEC competition.
Here are some thoughts for perspective.
The 1997 Vols lost at Florida, and that was a disappointing afternoon, complete with a torrential rainfall at game’s end. They recovered very nicely, winning the SEC Eastern Division title when the Gators lost twice later in the season, and the Vols didn’t lose again.
Some people recalled the Florida loss and called winning the Eastern Division in that manner “backing into” the title and the trip to Atlanta. Regardless of how the Vols got there, the Vols defeated Auburn to win the SEC overall, helped immeasurably by an inspirational halftime speech by linebacker Al Wilson and a 73-yard game-winning TD pass from Peyton Manning to Marcus Nash in the SEC title game.
There were those fans in 1998 who complained as the Vols won the national championship by winning more than a few close games and overcoming other hindrances on the way to their eventual 13-0 record. Winning a close game by taking advantage of the breaks at exactly the right time, however, has always been a hallmark of national championship teams over the years and is part of the Tennessee tradition.
Those controversial plays included the pass interference penalty that gave the Vols new life in the Carrier Dome against Syracuse in the season opener and the “Stoerner Stumble,” a well-timed turnover when it looked as if Arkansas was getting ready to win the season’s most critical game.
Most fans were happy when the SEC crown came back home to Knoxville. Right where it belonged, they said. No one said that the Gators “backed out” of a trip to Atlanta and the SEC title game by losing twice late in the season, but they could have.
Peyton Manning, who raised the stakes for the season when he announced at a March media conference that he was coming back for his senior campaign, was favored to win the Heisman, but didn’t. Somehow Michigan’s Charles Woodson grabbed the brass ring, with a great many Tennessee fans calling it the “Heisman Heist.”
Peyton showed a high degree of class and dignity and all those other intangibles that exceptional people display when things are tough, but it was a huge disappointment all across Big Orange Country… and still is. For better or worse, that was a dominant memory that ended up shaping perceptions of the entire season.
The Vols lost decisively to Nebraska in the 1998 Orange Bowl in Tom Osborne’s last game as Cornhusker head coach. It was a 25-point margin reflecting his 25-year Nebraska career. That had a chilling effect on the mood of the fan base.
Tee Martin had led a late touchdown drive to narrow the final margin, giving Vol fans hope that 1998 might be better. They didn’t know that for sure, but there was hope it could happen.
The 1998 team did bring home the national championship with a 13-0 record, the only such record in the annals of Vol football. Things got better week-by-week and fans fed off the team’s energy and spirit. An 11-2 1997 record obviously didn’t measure up to 1998’s 13-0, but regardless of how you spin it, both seasons were significant accomplishments. A two-season record of 24-2 is nothing short of amazing.
If the Vols somehow could get to an 11-2 season record in the years to come, maybe even next season, there would be great joy and jubilation all across the expanse of Big Orange Country. The past would be mere prologue.
As they say in the locker room, on the Vol Network airwaves, and on local sports talk shows, this is Tennessee football and the future is NOW. Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!
