Can it happen again?: Related stories
Sept. 5: The Flag
There would have been no Jeff Hall game-winning field goal in the opener at Syracuse without a fortuitous penalty.
Down 33-31 after a Syracuse field goal, Tennessee facedfourth-and-7 at the Syracuse 35 with 1:48 to play. Tee Martin's pass for Cedrick Wilson was incomplete but hold the phone. Syracuse was flagged for pass interference to keep the drive alive. First down, Tennessee.
Sept. 19: The Strip
Florida drove its first possession of the game to the UT 3. On third-and-1, Terry Jackson took the handoff and got stripped by Al Wilson. Raynoch Thompson recovered in the end zone to avert a Gator score.
A tone was set. Florida would fumble four times, Wilson causing three of them, and the Vols won 20-17 in overtime.
Sept. 19: The Scramble
The first UT overtime possession in history. Florida sacked Martin and got a holding penalty against Spencer Riley in the bargain for a 13-yard loss to create third-and-23 at the Tennessee 38. Martin, however, scrambled 14 crucial yards to the 24. From there, Hall had the range for a 41-yard field goal that would be the winner.
Oct. 3: The Stand
Tennessee led 17-3 at Auburn when Martin was sacked and fumbled about a foot from his goal line.
Three times the Tigers surged but the Vols wouldn't budge. On fourth-and-goal, Raynoch Thompson broke through to stop fullback Tellie Embery in his tracks at the 2. UT won 17-9.
Oct. 10: The Conversion
Tennessee, an underdog, led 9-3 at halftime at Georgia but Martin was having another shaky day.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, UT marched for third-and-goal at the Bulldogs' 3. Martin converted, passing to Cedrick Wilson for the score and a 15-3 lead.
It was a turning point for Martin, who repeated the sequence in the ensuing drive for a 22-3 lead that would be the final score.
Oct. 24: The Return
Tennessee led Alabama 14-3, but when Shaun Alexander scored and the Tide added a two-point conversion to make it 14-11 in the third quarter, momentum was turning.
Peerless Price turned it right back with a 100-yard kickoff return. It was his first game handling kickoffs. The Vols eased away to a 35-18 win.
Nov. 14: The Miracle
You know this one by heart. Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner stumbles and fumbles with 1:43 to play. Billy Ratliff recovers. Travis Henry pounds it 43 yards on five consecutive carries. Vols win 28-24.
Dec. 5: The Knockout Punch
The Vols trailed Mississippi State in the fourth quarter of the SEC championship game until Martin hit Price with the go-ahead TD pass to make it 17-14.
On the Bulldogs' first snap, Al Wilson forced a fumble that Eric Westmoreland recovered. That set up the knockout punch, a first-down, 26-yard, game-icing TD strike to Cedrick Wilson.
Jan. 4: The Interception
Was it a great defensive play or an ill-advised pass by a back-up quarterback? Maybe both.
Dwayne Goodrich intercepted a cross-field pass by Florida State's Marcus Outzen and raced 54 yards for a touchdown to put UT up 14-0, the Vols' second score in a 25-second span.
Jan. 4: The Save
Punter David Leaverton's only tackle all season was a beauty. UT led 14-6 when Leaverton punted from his 31. On the receiving end was FSU All-American Peter Warrick.
Warrick broke coverage and appeared end-zone bound. He got 51 yards but not six points. Leaverton, the last defender, nailed him hard at the UT 27.
Tennessee 69, South Carolina 57 men's…
Tennessee 60, Connecticut 57 men's…
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Comments » 34
cleVOLand writes:
This was truly a magic season. Sure, these guys were good and very determined, but boy, were they lucky, too. We can only hope for the same this year!
CoverOrange writes:
Lucky? I read talent and determination. The only lucky plays I saw listed above was the Stoerner stumble (why in heck would you call a QB rollout when you're trying to run out the clock?) and the first two where the officials may have made questionable calls.
budd#207344 writes:
Remember them all A Great Season
FWBVol writes:
I've been saying for 10 years that the Stoerner fumble becomes part of the lore of the championship season only because the officials blew an earlier call.
In the fourth quarter the Arkansas punter couldn't handle a snap and kicked the ball through the end zone. The officials called it a safety, which the SEC director of officials later conceded was the wrong call on the play. Tennessee should have been awarded the ball inside the Razorback 10 and it would have been a
score for Travis Henry.
All in all great memories from a great year. Every national champion has a few breaks along the way. I don't remember any team, even the recent great USC teams or the great Nebraska teams under Tom Osborne that didn't have a few close games.
On any given Saturday anything can happen. That's the beauty of college football.
T0MMYJACK writes:
If one believes in luck then he is a slave to luck.
The '98 Vols were in control of their own destiny. Look at the tapes. Players stepped up when they needed to. And if Brandon Burlsworth was alive today, he'd laugh in your face if you said to him that Stoerner's fumble was luck. He was slobber-knocked by Ratliff and Walker backwards to where he stepped on Stoerner's foot.
What some call luck was merely a stepping stone for a Tennessee team that found itself being down by 14 with 20 or so minutes left in that game. From then on, and until Stoerner's mishap, the Vols offense scored 7 and Jeff Hall tacked on 3.
The pigs found themselves at Tennessee's 16 with under 6 minutes to play. The TD would build a two-possession lead that the Vols would be hard-pressed to overcome. It wasn't luck that answered the call ... it was the D, who held tight and forced a field goal try from the 16. That chip shot would ensure that Tennessee would have to score a TD + a conversion in order to win.
It wasn't luck that answered THAT call, either. Enter the Tennessee FG block team. And it wasn't luck that returned the blocked FG to the arkie 28. Unless Al Wilson's nickname was "Luck", and I don't think it was. The Vols couldn't score from the 28 and they didn't need luck - they needed a great play. Enter punter Leaverton, who pins the piggies at their own 1. The Tennessee defense held arkie inside the 5, then arkie perpetrated the misplayed punt attempt referenced above by FWBVol.
We get the ball back and can't move it, giving it back to the pigs. Arkie needs 1 first down in order to be able to knee the clock down to 00:00. The Vols need no luck - they need a big play. With under two minutes to go, the Vols' D causes Stoerner to fumble and Ratliff recovers it. He was coached to do so ... it wasn't luck.
From there on out, all Tennessee needed was to shove a huge chunk of Cheese down the collective throat of the pigs and that was that. You know the rest.
Call it what you may ... but it wasn't luck.
LoveThoseVols88 writes:
"On any given Saturday anything can happen. That's the beauty of college football."
Well said, FWBVol!
mlbrown5454 writes:
Um, yeah, Stoerner's line couldn't put up for that play. Watch that play and I wish we could bottle whatever it was that had our line in their backfield.
Recurring theme is Al Wilson.
Leader, leader, leader.
We need a D leader in the LB or line position like him again.
Thought McCoy would have been.
Want Frazier to be.
vanvol writes:
Great comment T0MMYJACK. Glad someone here actually remembers what happened in that game. Ratliff and Walker never get enough credit for a great play in the trenches.
T0MMYJACK writes:
Thanks.
They played well, indeed. Brandon Burlsworth was an All-American in '98, his senior season.
If you recall, he was killed in an auto accident soon after the Colts drafted him in the 3rd round of the NFL draft in April '98.
orangebloodgmc writes:
The Syracuse pass interference was a pass interference with their guy hitting our receiver before ball got there. You can claim it was only luck or you can admit their db did not manifest the ability to make a clean play as all the other dbs on the field had been doing, ours and theirs.
Need_2_Know writes:
I have often said that the top twenty-thirty teams in the nation recruit exactly the same level of athletes. You get some 5s, some 4s, some 3s, and some walkons, just like everyone else. Then you coach 'em up as best you can and provide them with inspiration, such as the plays listed in this article. Then, eleven of ours face eleven of theirs and it seems like the fate of the world hinges on the minds and bodies of those 18-22 year old "student-athletes". With the right mix of effort, enthusiasm and luck, UT has about the same chance as any other top-tier team to be the next National Champions.
I wish them luck, and I'll pull for them all season long, as I do every other. The only way I'm dissappointed in the team is if they don't play with heart, but even then they are my team and I will wear my orange with pride.
Go Vols, I'll hang up and listen to your comments.
Need_2_Know writes:
Oh, and TommyJ, well written comment. It's like being there all over again. I have to laugh at all the fair-weather, traffic-beater fans who up and left before those fateful last few plays. They cheated themselves out of a live view of an historic moment. Twice during those final minutes, I told my girlfriend that UT had just let the game get away from them by not taking care of business and darn if they didn't prove me wrong each time.
And lest we forget, could the Voice of the Vols have orchestrated his farewell season any better than it ultimately played out? He and Bill Anderson went out on top and in style, very appropos of what they had given their listeners over the years.
Oh, I can't wait, come on Bruins!
leedsvol2007 writes:
The 98 team was talented and determined but it the plays that turned that season show just how everything has to line up to win a National Championship.
There were other factors as well Ohio State as I remember lost to Minnesota to get us near the top. After that UCLA was ranked #1. Miami which had been down for a couple of years upset them the afternoon of the SEC championship game.
FSU beat Florida with Outzen at quarterback to climb to #2.
Shaun Ellis came back and played effectively after an automobile accident including limping to a TD with a turnover against Auburn. When Jamal Lewis went down Travis Henry, who had almost been dismissed the year before, teamed with Travis Stephens to play at an All Star level.
If you look at LSU last year and UF the year before they had similar experiences.
The 1990 team was more talented but did not have the key plays turn their way.
You have to be great but you also have to get or make some breaks along the way for one of those special seasons.
GoVols!
Volborn writes:
Great post Tommyjack! Another thing I remember vividly was the Arkansas D-lineman swinging victory towels in front of the UT student section during that Stoerner fumble series. Then came the proverbial "OH SH...!" moment when they had drop the victory towels, put on their helmets and run back out onto the field to try to stop Henry.
The difference was that Tennessee didn't give up when many other teams would have!
And for the "flag" in the Syracuse game? I've watched it many times in super slow motion. The bottom line is there was contact with the receiver BEFORE the ball arrived. And yes, I have seen refs let that go uncalled more than once. If we were lucky, it was because we had an official with enough guts and the good eyes to make the correct call. The rule doesn't specify any difference if the contact occurs 3 seconds before the ball arrives or half a second!
go VOLS! Ican smell the pigskin on those crisp late summer mornings...Or is that the smell of Jack and Coke in a plastic cup?
Orangeblood13 writes:
lucks arse, destiny, not luck
I see another coming....
T0MMYJACK writes:
Eight days!
rockitwithrespect writes:
mississippi st. representing the west in the SEC CG. oh how times have changed.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
I'd add:
THE ONE-HAND PICK
Deon Grants great one-handed inerception kiiled another UF drive. It was a highlihgt reel play.
Need_2_Know writes:
MP, absolutely, that pick was a thing of beauty. If you've seen Brandon Warren's "catch", you've seen the same skill level.
Promising, very promising . . .
Info request: Does anyone on here know the face value of one season ticket for this season, and if so will you please post it?
Need_2_Know writes:
Re: my request for ticket prices, $315 looks to be right for the seven home games (from UofT ticket office). Disregard.
CoverOrange writes:
mmparker, on that play I went from "oh gawd here we go again" to "oh my gawd did you see that?" I became an instant fan of Deon.
Luck is involved when the subjective judgement of a ref is involved, i.e., the Syracuse interference, the Florida No-Catch Catch, the clock stoppage at Florida, the Alabama triple knee down, etc. Assuming no bias, just randomness of refs seeing and reacting.
orangebloodgmc writes:
True Turbo, and Jamarcus Russell's football pops out before he was down, although balanced with did Morely touch/muff the punt or not. Then there's the Mapu slap on top of Leak's helmet, called to negate our pick TD, but not the Cal spear in the back of Ainge which gave them early TD. Always judgement calls in football and they pretty much balance out.
olozbal#646632 writes:
I've only been a fan for about 8 years and I just watched the Arkansas game as a rerun on cable. It worried me - damn we were huge back then. The linemen looked gigantic, the running was north and south and in your face. That is not the UT football I'm used to. Has football changed or has UT?
Gigavol writes:
Winners expect to and get lucky bounces. Losers waller in their bad luck.
volunteer_cowboy writes:
On 104.5 radio in Nashville Doug Matthews has a show called Big Orange Sunday. He intervied Phil Fulmer this morning and asked him about this situation and after the break, Doug came back and said he wanted to explain the situation because Fulmer was very limited in what he could say. Williams has to graduate from the 2 year college in order to be accepted at UT. He took a correspondence course at UT and representatives came to be with him while he was tested offsite. The test results have to be sent back to the 2 year college to be scored. The results are put on the transcript and it is then sent to UT. As Doug explained it, 2 year colleges are not always fully staffed and move at their own pace depending on the instructor's and registrar's schedules. He said he graduated from a 2 year school and often recruited from 2 year colleges. He thinks it is the process not poor test results. Once Williams transcript is accepted by UT, he will be eligible to play.
CoverOrange writes:
Good info Cowboy. Can anybody explain why GW has to be held out of practice because of waiting for transcripts? He was practicing before.
FWBVol writes:
olozbal, if you were to look at the size of our offensive line in 1998 and the one today, on average, today's linemen probably go about 10 pounds heavier. A couple of exceptions from 1998 were Cosey Coleman and Chad Clifton were in the 6-5, 6-6 range and weighed about 315. The other starters were all around 295-300.
By contrast center Josh McNeil is our smallest lineman today and he's listed at 280, although some believe he's a little smaller. The other linemen all go 300 or better with Jacques McClendon going 320 and Ramon Foster 325.
I think the biggest change from 10 years ago is the change that has taken place in all of football. Back then you established the run and set up the pass. It was a ball control attack where the o-line knew they could fire off the ball and get to somebody. Today the game is more pass first, which, I believe, puts the offensive lineman more in a defensive mode of back pedaling to protect the passer.
Of course having a guys like Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis and Shawn Bryson in the backfield helped too.
Cherokee writes:
orangeblood nailed the Syracuse pass interference call. I'm sick to death of hearing different people bring up that doggone call as if it was some stroke of luck that saved our season. IT WAS PASS INTER-FREAKIN'-FERENCE! If the DB had not hit our WR from behind before the ball arrived, there's about a 95% chance it would have been a first down completion. PLEASE quit bringing this one up as if the Vols got some kind of "fortuitous" (i.e. lucky) break.
FWBVol writes:
I was sitting in the upper deck at Neyland near not too far from the section for Arkansas fans in that 1998 game. Every time they started their little "Sooey Hogs" cheer, I'd start my own, Pewey pigs, stink, stink, stink.
Remember, Arkansas also was undefeated going into the game and was ranked No. 10. I've never seen a more stunned group of fans leave Neyland than those hog heads that day.
Titan writes:
"Luck" would have been a bunch of guys chasing after the Stoerner stumble fumble and kicking/bumbling/dribbling/ and knocking the ball all the way to the end zone where we fall on it for the game winning score. Everyone that wants to brand it luck needs to remember that luck didn't cause what happened after the fumble. Cheese and the O Line collectively rammed it down Arky's throats with no sense of panic anywhere in sight. And that my friends ain't luck.
MidTennVol writes:
Guys, many, many things had to happen for us to win that championship -- some of them within our team's control, some of them not in our control.
As well as our players taking care of business every down, the stars just have to align properly to go 13-0 playing a game like this.
For sure, playing your heart out no matter the odds is something in our control. Other people losing to make room for us to win it all is something we can't control. This happened in 1998.
(Ask Auburn about its perfect season in 2004, when it DID NOT win the NC.)
Coach Fulmer is right -- we will focus on the things we can control. Nothing good or exceptional happens if you don't do that first and foremost -- every play, every practice, every down.
Luck, fate, destiny -- I personally don't think these words should have any place in our locker room.
Coaches know many things have to go right ("we got some breaks...the ball bounced our way a few times," etc.) for a team to win the ultimate prize.
But they also know one thing is for sure: you don't have a chance of winning it all if you don't beat the man in front of you more than he beats you.
It's like playing the lottery. No guarantee you'll win if you buy a ticket. But I guarantee you won't win if you don't buy a ticket.
CrankE writes:
leedsvol, in 1998, Ohio State lost to Michigan State coached by Nick Satan. But hey, it's the Big Ten (actual size; 11) what's the difference?
TommyJack writes:
If one were to analyze ANY team that has won an NC, they would find that the fickle finger of fate had intervened on their behalf sometime during their regular season. Period.
rockytopron writes:
Wonderful season, thanks for the trip down memory lane. Fortunately, I taped most games that season and can watch them anytime I desire.
GO VOLS!
If Pat can win in '87, '97 & '07 and '98 & '08
Why can't the vols win in '98 & '08!
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