The pile grew at Peyton Manning's feet, as jersey, pads, shoes,
wristbands dropped into a pungent heap in front of his dressing
stool. Then he paused and smiled crookedly. "I knew we would
win," he said, long after Tennessee's 30-29 victory over Auburn
in the SEC championship game last Saturday night in Atlanta and
long after the celebration that followed. He knew when the
Volunteers fell behind 20-7 in the second quarter, and 27-17
late in the third? "If we stayed calm, I knew we would win this
game," Manning repeated. Believe it. Patience isn't just a
virtue for the Vols of the Manning era, it's a necessity.
For three years Tennessee has seen its season seemingly
destroyed by early-season losses to Florida. Yet for three years
Tennessee has run the rest of the SEC table to keep its slim
hopes for a conference championship alive. Credit for such
perseverance goes to coach Phillip Fulmer, who despite an
overall record of 54-10 has been sliced up by Vols fans for
falling to the Gators for five straight years. Two years ago
Tennessee blew a 30-14 lead to Florida and disintegrated in a
62-37 loss. The next morning Fulmer told his staff, "This is
going to be the best week of practice we've ever had." Indeed,
the Volunteers' workouts were exceptional that week. They would
set the tone for the recovery that would follow—and that would
remain an indelible experience for the many current starters who
were sophomores then.
This season, nine days after losing to Florida 33-20 on Sept. 20
(Tennessee had a bye the next week), the same Vols, seniors now,
convened a players-only meeting and implored their teammates to
hold together. "Keep the faith," Manning remembers saying that
day. "Things can happen." Things did happen. Florida lost to LSU
and Georgia, and now Tennessee, which remained No. 3 in both
polls after the squeaker over Auburn, has its first conference
title since 1990. The Volunteers will play Nebraska in the
Orange Bowl with a shot at the national championship should
top-ranked Michigan fall in the Rose Bowl.
In his final SEC game, Manning threw for 373 yards and four
touchdowns. This came at the end of a 12-day period during which
he was often preoccupied with the condition of his 24-year-old
brother, Cooper, who two days after watching Tennessee's Nov. 22
victory over Kentucky, underwent emergency spinal surgery to
relieve worsening numbness in his left side from a congenital
condition that ended his football career.
Cooper watched the Auburn game at home in New Orleans with his
younger brother, Eli. At halftime he talked by phone with his
mother, Olivia, who was at the Georgia Dome. "What's
[Tennessee's] problem?" he shouted despite his discomfort. The
other Mannings hope Cooper can travel to New York City this
weekend for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, in which Peyton is one
of four finalists. If not, his presence will be felt
nonetheless. "Cooper and I were together out there tonight,"
said Peyton after the win over Auburn. "We're always together."
Issue date: December 15, 1997
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