In a land where there is famine, there once was plenty.

Plenty of offense. Plenty of touchdowns.

Footballs filled the air, usually landing precisely in the hands where they were intended to land.

Third-and-long? Watch this.

Need a quick score? Can do.

Saturday night, Tennessee will pay Peyton Manning the ultimate tribute by retiring his No. 16.

While the timing of this honor caught us a bit off-guard -- Manning is still in his prime with the Indianapolis Colts -- only the stingiest of grinches would dispute its merit.

The occasion, UT's visit from South Carolina at Neyland Stadium, will be doubly poignant.

On one side, there will be Steve Spurrier, a relic of Manning's old nemesis. He never led the Vols to victory over Spurrier's mighty Florida Gators.

As intense a competitor as anyone who ever ran through the "T," Manning was all about championships. And if you didn't beat the Gators, achieving that goal was a problem.

On a personal level, not beating Florida probably cost him the 1997 Heisman Trophy. At the least, it opened the door for Charles Woodson's hard-charging bandwagon.

On the other side, the one in orange, is Manning's old team. Hard times have come a knocking.

"We're excited to be honoring Peyton and all that he accomplished here,'' UT coach Phillip Fulmer said this week. "Hopefully, some of his points will rub off on our offensive football team.''

On the spectrum of college football offense, the Manning Era Vols (1994-97) are at one end. The 2005 Vols are at the other.

The offensive unit that lines up against South Carolina rarely visits the checkerboards. Six games have produced 11 offensive touchdowns, two of them 1-yard drives gift-wrapped by UT's defense.

Wouldn't it be nice If Joey Kent or Marcus Nash is in the house Saturday night. Manning could fire a couple of long balls during halftime to remind everybody what one looks like.

"To be in the press box and feel like you knew what he was thinking -- he never surprised you -- that was a real comforting feeling,'' said David Cutcliffe, UT's quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator during Manning's career.

He watched Manning blossom from a talented, gangly freshman who was thrown into the fire in 1994 to a maestro who took the UT offense to new heights from 1995 through 1997.

Once Manning got up to speed, UT averaged 47.3 offensive touchdowns a year in his three full seasons as a starter.

Say it out loud -- 47.3! That figure seems staggering, unreal even, by lean 2005 standards.

The '97 Vols averaged 34.3 points and 482 yards of offense. Surrounded by playmakers, Manning threw 36 touchdown passes that year to finish with 89 in his career, second-most ever in the SEC.

Anyone on the staff in '97 still feels a sense of loss that Manning didn't get the Heisman.

He won virtually every other award. And he did leave UT with an SEC championship ring in '97.

As for Spurrier and the Gators, it's not like Manning didn't show up.

He had only one bad outing, in '96, when four interceptions overshadowed four TDs and 492 yards passing.

In '95, he was brilliant. Florida happened to score 62 points.

In '97, Manning had a decent day, except for the interception Tony George (Or did ESPN say it was Woodson?) returned for a touchdown.

Manning annually wore out Georgia and Alabama. Lesser opponents took their medicine. Manning-era Vols scored 50 or more against five different SEC schools.

That was then. Nowadays, the Vols might have to make 50 points spread over a month.

"I knew how fortunate I was as it was happening,'' said Cutcliffe. "I counted my blessings every day.''