Tennessee football: 5 best seasons in program history
By Ethan Lee
No. 1: Tennessee wins first BCS national title in 1998
The most recent season on this list also happens to be the best season in Tennessee football history. One year after Peyton Manning graduated and left for the NFL, the Vols won the national title.
The Vols had an absolutely historic season in 1998, but their first game of the year nearly spelled disaster for Tennessee. Then No. 10 Tennessee started off the 1998 season with a trip to No. 17 Syracuse. The Vols had a 24-13 lead heading into the fourth quarter but needed a last-second field goal to come away victorious, winning 34-33.
Following that road win over Syracuse, head coach Phillip Fulmer took the Vols back home where they met up with the No. 2 Florida Gators. No. 8 Tennessee continued its winning ways coming out on top of rival Florida 20-17.
The Vols’ offense exploded against Houston as No. 4 Tennessee won 42-7. In back-to-back weeks, Tennessee took to the road, facing off against Auburn and No. 7 Georgia. The Vols won both games with relative ease and found themselves at 5-0 heading into a bye week before a home game against Alabama.
That bye week probably wasn’t necessary for No. 3 UT, but it certainly didn’t hurt. The Vols rolled right through the Crimson Tide, winning by 17 points.
Two more dominant wins over South Carolina and UAB set No. 1 UT up for a monumental showdown against No. 10 Arkansas. And as it turns out, the Razorbacks were the first team to truly challenge Tennessee in over a month. But, like every other opponent Tennessee had faced up to this point, the Vols came away with a win, albeit one that was pretty close at 28-24.
Easy wins against Kentucky and Vanderbilt led the undefeated No. 1 team in the country to the SEC championship game, where the Vols met up with the No. 23 Mississippi State Bulldogs. Mississippi State was unable to keep up and the Vols came out on top 24-14. With an SEC Championship trophy in hand, the Vols then went on to the Fiesta Bowl, where they met up with, and subsequently defeated, the No. 2 Florida State Seminoles.
An undefeated season, a conference championship, and a national title. The Vols, at 13-0, had their best season ever in 1998.
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