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Vols reach rocky top
Posted: Saturday January 09, 1999 02:05 PM
TEMPE, Ariz. (CNN/SI) -- After a season where computers seemed to determine the top teams in the nation as much as the players on the field, the Tennessee Volunteers simplified all the controversy. They won the games when it counted. It wasn't always pretty, for sure. Just check out the thrilling season-opening win against Syracuse. Or the nail-biting overtime triumph over Florida. Or the miraculous victory over Arkansas. But somehow the Volunteers found ways to overcome the odds and win all their games. Teams such as Ohio State, Kansas State and UCLA may have had better talent than Tennessee, but they all found ways to lose one game that throttled their national championship hopes. In fact, Florida State fit that description as well. They had one of the most talented teams in the nation but a very early loss to N.C. State nearly killed their title hopes. The Seminoles found their way into the Fiesta Bowl and seemed primed for a shot at a national title. Even though they were ranked No. 2 in the nation, FSU actually was the favorite. However, Florida State ran into that buzzsaw of luck and destiny that was the 1998 Tennessee Volunteers. Top-ranked Tennessee claimed the undisputed national championship, capping a perfect season with a very imperfect 23-16 victory over Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl. The Volunteers (13-0) received all 70 first-place votes in the final Associated Press media poll. Ohio State was second. Under the new Bowl Championship Series format, Tennessee was crowned national champion in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll immediately after the game.
Quarterback Tee Martin and the Volunteers claimed the national championship, capping a perfect season with a very imperfect win. "We had to prove to everybody we were the No. 1 team in the nation," said Martin, who stepped in for Tennessee folk hero Peyton Manning and led the Vols to their best record ever, 13-0. "We had a chip on our shoulders. We won all our games. We were 12-0 and we still didn't get our respect." They have it now. The Vols are undefeated and the undisputed national champions. "All year long we've been called a team of destiny," coach Phillip Fulmer said. "During the course of the year, we did what we had to do. It wasn't always perfect, it wasn't always pretty, but they found a way to get it done." Tennessee hadn't won a national championship since 1951. Winning this one wasn't easy. Martin threw two touchdown passes, including a 79-yarder to Peerless Price with 9:17 to go to put the Vols ahead 20-9. But the Seminoles (11-2), despite their own turnover and penalty problems, wouldn't quit. After Jeff Hall kicked a 23-yard field goal to extended the lead to 23-9 with 6:01 left, Florida State cut the lead to 23-16 on Marcus Outzen's 7-yard TD run with 3:42 left. The play was set up by his 39-yard pass to Ron Dugans on a third-and-seven. Sebastian Janikowski's onside kick after the score was recovered by Florida State, but the ball hit the kicker's hand after it traveled only 7 yards and the Vols took possession.
And just when it looked like Tennessee would score again to put the game out of reach, linebacker Brian Allen recovered Travis Henry's fumble at the 10 to give Florida State one more chance. Outzen, though, was overmatched in just his third start. On Florida State's first play after the recovery, his long pass intended for Peter Warrick was tipped by Deon Grant and intercepted by Steve Johnson, who returned it 20 yards to the Florida State 45. The Vols ran out the clock, the sideline emptied and Fulmer ran to midfield with his daughters in tow. "It was not one or two guys," he said. "It was a whole football team believing they could get it done, working hard and finally getting it done." The Seminoles fell to 1-2 in games deciding national championship. "We congratulate Tennessee for the national championship they deserve," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. "They made more big plays than we did. We had a hard time getting the ball to our threat, and they deserved to win." Martin made the most of his opportunity to do what Manning couldn't -- win a national title. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder from Mobile, Ala., was 11-of-18 for 278 yards and two TDs, while Price caught four passes for 199 yards and was voted the game's MVP. Florida State clearly lacked offensive punch with Outzen at quarterback. And the Vols were all over Warrick, who managed a 51-yard punt return but caught only one pass for 7 yards.
He may have been able to beat Florida two months ago, but he was no match for linebacker Al Wilson and the Vols' defense. Outzen was 9-of-22 for 145 yards with two interceptions, and he was sacked four times. He also ran 18 times for minus 1 yard. Florida State was penalized 12 times for 110 yards, while Tennessee was penalized nine times for 55 yards. "Nobody believed us," Price said. "I'm happy to be able to make some plays for my team." It took 15 minutes of sloppy play by both teams before the Volunteers warmed up briefly in Sun Devil Stadium, where a record crowd of 80,407 -- many of them in the burnt orange of Tennessee -- showed up. After a scoreless first quarter that featured two fumbles, shanked punts, a missed field goal by the normally reliable Hall and 59 yards in penalties, Tennessee struck for two touchdowns in 25 seconds. First, the Vols took three points off the board after the Seminoles' Dexter Jackson was penalized for roughing the kicker on Hall's 24-yard field goal. That put the Vols on the Florida State 4, and two plays later Martin hit fullback Shawn Bryson on a 4-yard touchdown pass. On Florida State's second play after the kickoff, cornerback Dwayne Goodrich stepped in front of Outzen's pass intended for Warrick and ran 54 yards for a touchdown with 13:40 left in the half. Outzen, who stepped in after Chris Weinke was lost for the season with a neck injury on Nov. 7, was 4-of-10 for 35 yards in the first half.
Despite eight penalties for 67 yards, the Seminoles still managed to close the gap to 14-9 by halftime. After Derrick Gibson's 43-yard interception return gave Florida State the ball to the Tennessee 3, the Seminoles needed three plays before fullback William McRay bulled over from the 1 with 8:59 left in the half. Janikowski's point-after attempt was partially blocked by Shaun Ellis and the ball bounced off the crossbar. Warrick then gave a glimpse of why he may be college football's most exciting player. He caught David Leaverton's punt at the 22, blew past two Vols, broke to his right and then faked out two more defenders for a 51-yard return to the Vols 27. But the Seminoles kept hurting themselves with penalties, managing only 10 yards on 10 plays, before settling for Janikowski's 34-yard field goal with 1:17 left in the half. "They say if you keep making the same mistakes you are stupid," said Florida State offensive guard Jason Whitaker. "I guess we are." The new BCS, with its assortment of polls and computers, had delivered this No. 1 vs. No. 2 as a Super Bowl of college football. Tennessee, though, needed a magical season filled with game-winning field goals, lucky breaks and second-half rallies to end up as the nation's lone unbeaten team among major conferences (Tulane of Conference USA was 12-0).
"Hey, what can I say? Tennessee won. It looks like they'll be No. 1," said John Cooper, coach of third-ranked Ohio State (11-1), which had said it would plead for consideration as the national champion if the Seminoles had won. "They'll be No. 1. I don't know who's No. 2. If you follow the logic, since this will be Florida State's second loss, you would think that they will drop to No. 5 or No. 6." Tennessee's championship seemed unlikely with Heisman Trophy runner-up Manning gone and Martin the new starting quarterback. No fewer than 10 other players were drafted or signed by NFL teams. But whenever Tennessee got in trouble, which was frequently, it found a way to escape: at Syracuse, at Georgia, and twice at home, against Florida and Arkansas. There was the questionable fourth-down interference call against Syracuse that kept the Vols' final drive alive and allowed Hall to kick a last-play field goal in a 34-33 win. Two weeks later, his 41-yarder in overtime mercifully ended Florida's five-year winning streak over the Vols, 20-17. On Oct. 10, the defense rose to the occasion -- five sacks, two interceptions -- in a 22-3 win over Georgia in the Vols' first game since the season-ending knee injury to star tailback Jamal Lewis. On Nov. 14, a week after Tennessee replaced Ohio State at No. 1 following the Buckeyes' loss to Michigan State, the Vols received their biggest break. With Arkansas ahead by two points, quarterback Clint Stoerner fumbled at the Razorbacks 43 with 1:43 remaining. That led to Travis Henry's 1-yard TD run with 28 seconds left, giving the Vols a 28-24 win. The regular-season came to a dramatic conclusion on Dec. 5. Tennessee, Kansas State and UCLA were all undefeated, and not even the first-place Vols knew for sure they would end up in the Fiesta Bowl with a win. Within a few incredible hours, Miami beat UCLA, Texas A&M beat Kansas State in double overtime in the Big 12 title game and the Vols rallied in the final nine minutes for a 24-14 win over Mississippi State in the SEC title game. The results were reflected in the final BCS standings: Tennessee would play Florida State, the computer's choice as the best of the several once-beaten teams. | |||||||||||||
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