Two undefeated teams facing off, both, I believe were 8-0. What a break for the Vols! Probably the biggest break of the season. The Razorbacks lose this game 28-24 and go on the lose two more and end up -8-3. Vols win this making them 9-0 and then beat Vandy and Kentucky to go play against Mississippi St., surprise winner of the SEC West, in the SEC Championship game -winning this game to play FSU Seminoles in the National Championship game in the Fiesta Bowl winning 23-17 to win the NCAA National Championship going undefeated 13-0! What a season! Three big breaks during the season: (1) beating Syracuse with less than 4 seconds in the game with a FG; (2) beating our biggest arch-rivals, Florida by a FG in OT (that was huge at the time!), and (3) and beating Arkansas (OH MY GOODNESS, Stoener FUMBLES with less than 2 minutes left with the HOGS leading 24-21 and the Vols put it in the end zone for a TD!
How many people here had any idea that the Vols would be this good in 1998? I looked at the schedule and figured if the Vols split the first two games we had a shot at a top 5 in the country because the rest of the season looked winnable,not thinking how the Arkansas game would be this close. I thought that if the Vols won against Syracuse and Florida they had a shot at the top 3 in the country.
People always say it's the breaks a team gets in football that puts them in the National Championship game. Here are some teams that had those breaks: Nebraska did it against Missouri when they got an extra play and won and that was their leap towards going to be the top rated team in the country the year they won the National Championship in 1997 to play a team from Knoxville and beat the Vols who won the following year.
I'm a die hard fan all the way regardless of how the Vols play. That is a true fan of their sports team.
GO VOLS!