97 vs 98 Vols

#126
#126
Boston Vol said:
Maybe I’m misreading your post, but are you saying that Al Wilson didn’t play against FSU in the Fiesta bowl? If so, that’s not correct, he absolutely played and was a beast all game. Both Dwayne Goodrich and Jeff Coleman were injured in the first half and missed the remainder of the game.
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That was my mistake. Lewis lost early in the season. Not sure Why I mentioned Al.
 
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#131
#131
Brave Volunteer said:
I think the first time in 98 that I really thought we had a legit shot at being champions was when we beat Georgia. The week prior we had lost Jamal Lewis to injury and Georgia looked very impressive, beating LSU. I didn't think we had a prayer against Georgia but our defense dominated them. Ill never forget hearing Larry Munson say "theyre just better than we are!" LOL! That's when it finally dawned on me that "hey, we are a really good football team!"
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For some reason we had Georgias number in the 90s. They always had competitive teams, but it seems that we expected to win and we did. Crazy how we always seemed to play our best against Georgia in the 90s and our worst against Florida (still do). There is definitely a psychological factor in sports.
 
#132
#132
VOLINVONORE said:
The 1997 team was more talented than the 1998 team on offense, but, for some reason, had some games where either the offense or the defense, had some problems . The 1998 team had a lot of breaks go their way and were able to pull a few games out of the bag. It would have been nice to have back to back Championships but it didn’t happen.
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Outside of Peyton, Nash and a few others, was the 97 offense that much better than 98? The 98 team just changed its strategy to more of a running game with a more mobile QB. I remember having a great running team in 98 even without Lewis. In some ways that style was more effective for us in some games. Highlights Cuts value as he could change the offensive scheme based on personnel.
 
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#135
#135
Volizona said:
Outside of Peyton, Nash and a few others, was the 97 offense that much better than 98? The 98 team just changed its strategy to more of a running game with a more mobile QB. I remember having a great running team in 98 even without Lewis. In some ways that style was more effective for us in some games. Highlights Cuts value as he could change the offensive scheme based on personnel.
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My son played on the 97 and 98 teams and he thinks the 97 team was the most talented. I trust his judgement on this subject
 
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#136
#136
Brave Volunteer said:
I think the first time in 98 that I really thought we had a legit shot at being champions was when we beat Georgia. The week prior we had lost Jamal Lewis to injury and Georgia looked very impressive, beating LSU. I didn't think we had a prayer against Georgia but our defense dominated them. Ill never forget hearing Larry Munson say "theyre just better than we are!" LOL! That's when it finally dawned on me that "hey, we are a really good football team!"
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Wasn't Dj Shockley the qb for JawJaw that yr
 
#138
#138
Titans4Vols said:
This will be a less than popular take I'm sure, but even with a win over Florida, I wouldn't bet on us winning a national title in 97. Peyton had some issues at times in big games/playoff games/etc throughout his early playing life. It followed him to the NFL too, where he was often putrid in the NFL playoffs, up until the run in 2006 where he helped pull off a come from behind victory vs the Patriots in the AFC title game and helped cruise to a super bowl win over the Bears. After he got that monkey off his back, he became as good of a post season player as the likes of Brady/Rodgers/Brees/etc.

QB rating isn't the end all be all, but it's a decent measure of performance. Here are his QB ratings in the playoffs through his first super bowl victory:

62.3
82.0
31.2
158.3
138.7
35.5
145.7
69.3
90.9
71.9
39.6
79.1
81.8

Certainly not Peyton Manning-caliber performances in the majority of those contests, much like his performance against Nebraska in the orange bowl wasn't. After this, went on a run of 9 straight playoff games where he didn't post a rating below 87.9 and was over 90 in 6/9.

Then ran in to the legion of boom in that Denver/Seattle super bowl which wasn't pretty, and after that his body started failing him. Funnily enough his performances after his body started failing still exceed like 4-5 of his prime performances pre-SB win.
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Titans4Vols said:
This will be a less than popular take I'm sure, but even with a win over Florida, I wouldn't bet on us winning a national title in 97. Peyton had some issues at times in big games/playoff games/etc throughout his early playing life. It followed him to the NFL too, where he was often putrid in the NFL playoffs, up until the run in 2006 where he helped pull off a come from behind victory vs the Patriots in the AFC title game and helped cruise to a super bowl win over the Bears. After he got that monkey off his back, he became as good of a post season player as the likes of Brady/Rodgers/Brees/etc.

QB rating isn't the end all be all, but it's a decent measure of performance. Here are his QB ratings in the playoffs through his first super bowl victory:

62.3
82.0
31.2
158.3
138.7
35.5
145.7
69.3
90.9
71.9
39.6
79.1
81.8

Certainly not Peyton Manning-caliber performances in the majority of those contests, much like his performance against Nebraska in the orange bowl wasn't. After this, went on a run of 9 straight playoff games where he didn't post a rating below 87.9 and was over 90 in 6/9.

Then ran in to the legion of boom in that Denver/Seattle super bowl which wasn't pretty, and after that his body started failing him. Funnily enough his performances after his body started failing still exceed like 4-5 of his prime performances pre-SB win.
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He threw a terrible pick six against the Saints in the 4th quarter of his next SB. Manning was never as clutch as Brady in the postseason
 
#139
#139
Oldvoldad said:
95 VOLS should have won the natty. Up big on UF at halftime and had an absolute meltdown in the second half. Went on to beat a loaded Ohio State team in the bowl game that included some guy named Eddie George .
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lol. We would have gotten curbstomped by Nebraska.
 
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#140
#140
BernardKingGOAT said:
He threw a terrible pick six against the Saints in the 4th quarter of his next SB. Manning was never as clutch as Brady in the postseason
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The Colts allowed 25 points in the second half. Also the onsides kick was huge. Can you name me a time when a team Brady played on allowed 25 points in the second half of a Super Bowl game?
 
#142
#142
RDU VOL#14 said:
More physical football team in 98. More buy in overall in playing as a team. Different mindset. So many guys expected Peyton to get us out of jams and would wait to make to plays instead of taking ownership of what they did.
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That Nebraska game at the end of 97 revealed the Vols had become a little soft, relying on speed and Manning to win games. Nebraska manhandled them. They got embarrassed and went to work, they got stronger and tougher. The 98 team was one of the toughest teams in Vol history. And as others have said, the ball bounced our way at critical times in 98.
 
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#143
#143
Voltopia said:
The 1997 team was better than 1998's. Hell, the 2001 team was probably better than 1998's. 1998's needed an amazing run of luck to win the title -

The flag at Syracuse.
Spurrier playing kicker-go-round.
Ratliff making the play of his life to get to Stoerner.
FSU loses their starting senior QB Weinke and had to play the title game with Outzen. (Frankly, I've always thought that if FSU had Weinke we would have been in trouble in this game, with Weinke throwing to Warrick and all).

When you look at it, the amount of good fortune is somewhat stunning. Tennessee was absolutely drowning in talent between 1996-2001. And yet with all that talent, we never really saw Tennessee be THE dominant team -- and it took a lot of luck for them to get to the Fiesta Bowl. Over time, I think that created a growing perception that Tennessee backed into some of its best moments, as opposed to kicking down the door and taking them. 1998 being the luckiest of them all, obviously.
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Lived in FL at the time and FSU fans will go to their graves believing they would have won with Weinke. My response always was that TN team was a team of destiny and would have found a way to win, but we will never know.

If the 97 team beats Nebraska they could have won natty but national media loves Mich so they probably would have been voted over Vols anyway.
 
#144
#144
Some points being missed from the late 90's early 2000's:

97: Tennessee did not play Jamal Lewis (extensively) until after the Florida debacle
Nebraska whipped Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. It was a beating, not even close even though Manning did play with a torn meniscus.

98: We lose Jamal Lewis at Auburn game. In my opinion, Lewis is second best running back ever at Tennessee (behind Chuck Webb). Give me Jamal Lewis, a guy that had a 2000 yard season in the NFL over Chris Weinke every day.
In the Arkansas game, it was raining in the first half, both teams had the same amount of turnovers, and Tennessee did a terrible job of coaching. We were running over Arkansas like Nebraska ran over us in the Orange Bowl. If we had had Jamal Lewis for that game, he would have had 300 yards rushing. On the last drive, Henry was running with two hands over the ball, and they still couldn't stop him.

99: Florida game was the worst coaching/quarterback performance of the era. Florida had 7 sacks, and even more pressures. Florida was reading Tee Martin and was anticipating every snap count and play. Simple
recognition by either Martin or Sanders of change up on snap counts, and that game goes in a different direction. But I think the biggest issue was the loss of leadership from Al Wilson and Martin was exposed as
a simply serviceable quarterback.

2001: My opinion, most talented team ever at Tennessee. A defensive line consisting of John Henderson, Albert Haynesworth, Bernard Jackson, Will Overstreet, Omari Hand, and Constantin Ritzmann - All played in NFL.
LSU SEC Championship, bad coaching, bad preparation, worst luck. Should have been our second national championship of the era. An incredible 28 players off this team would play in the NFL.
 
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#145
#145
BigOrangeTrain said:
The Colts allowed 25 points in the second half. Also the onsides kick was huge. Can you name me a time when a team Brady played on allowed 25 points in the second half of a Super Bowl game?
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Manning threw a pick six on a critical 4th qtr drive, so 7 of it was due to the Manning int. I know in one of Brady's SB losses they gave up 41 points

It would rank up there in your top 5 of ignorant posts to claim Manning was as clutch as Brady in the postseason. Best to move on
 
#146
#146
Pump Guy said:
2001: My opinion, most talented team ever at Tennessee. A defensive line consisting of John Henderson, Albert Haynesworth, Bernard Jackson, Will Overstreet, Omari Hand, and Constantin Ritzmann - All played in NFL.
LSU SEC Championship, bad coaching, bad preparation, worst luck. Should have been our second national championship of the era. An incredible 28 players off this team would play in the NFL.
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The biggest problem with citing the '01 Vols for a NC was the '01 'Canes that did win. It's a game I really would have liked to have seen if only for the ability to look back and go "Did you see how many NFL guys were on that field?".
 
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#147
#147
Pump Guy said:
Some points being missed from the late 90's early 2000's:

97: Tennessee did not play Jamal Lewis (extensively) until after the Florida debacle
Nebraska whipped Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. It was a beating, not even close even though Manning did play with a torn meniscus.

98: We lose Jamal Lewis at Auburn game. In my opinion, Lewis is second best running back ever at Tennessee (behind Chuck Webb). Give me Jamal Lewis, a guy that had a 2000 yard season in the NFL over Chris Weinke every day.
In the Arkansas game, it was raining in the first half, both teams had the same amount of turnovers, and Tennessee did a terrible job of coaching. We were running over Arkansas like Nebraska ran over us in the Orange Bowl. If we had had Jamal Lewis for that game, he would have had 300 yards rushing. On the last drive, Henry was running with two hands over the ball, and they still couldn't stop him.

99: Florida game was the worst coaching/quarterback performance of the era. Florida had 7 sacks, and even more pressures. Florida was reading Tee Martin and was anticipating every snap count and play. Simple
recognition by either Martin or Sanders of change up on snap counts, and that game goes in a different direction. But I think the biggest issue was the loss of leadership from Al Wilson and Martin was exposed as
a simply serviceable quarterback.

2001: My opinion, most talented team ever at Tennessee. A defensive line consisting of John Henderson, Albert Haynesworth, Bernard Jackson, Will Overstreet, Omari Hand, and Constantin Ritzmann - All played in NFL.
LSU SEC Championship, bad coaching, bad preparation, worst luck. Should have been our second national championship of the era. An incredible 28 players off this team would play in the NFL.
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Fulmer post 1998, got lazy. Lazy in recruiting, lazy in coaching, lazy in game prepping. He became our Mark Stoops at that point.
 
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#148
#148
BernardKingGOAT said:
Manning threw a pick six on a critical 4th qtr drive, so 7 of it was due to the Manning int. I know in one of Brady's SB losses they gave up 41 points

It would rank up there in your top 5 of ignorant posts to claim Manning was as clutch as Brady in the postseason. Best to move on
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About what I expected from you. You couldn’t answer. Thanks for playing.
 
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