How Tennessee football put together a magic season, 25 years ago | Mike Strange
There’s never a bad time to reminisce about Tennessee’s 1998 national champion football team. This, the 25th anniversary season, is already open for tribute business.
WNML radio’s Sportsfest event at the Knoxville Expo Center on Saturday (June 3) will honor the ’98 champs. A bunch of them will be there to mingle. This publication offers a commemorative book: “Clad In Big Orange, 25 Years Later.”
Rather than recap the entire season here, I’ll hit on some random points that contributed to the largely unexpected 13-0 tour de force.
Tee Stayed Healthy: Think back how injuries to starting quarterbacks have impacted Tennessee seasons through the years.
Tee Martin started and played every game. Good thing. His backup was freshman Burney Veazey. Joey Mathews, a true freshman, was the other scholarship quarterback on the roster.
Veazey made only late cameos in several games, was 4-of-7 passing on the season. Mathews redshirted.
Experience Up Front: Four starters returned to the offensive line – Chad Clifton, Cosey Coleman, Spencer Riley and Mercedes Hamilton. Jarvis Reado, who replaced departed Trey Teague, was a senior with plenty of game reps.
It’s also significant that Mike Barry arrived in ’98 as the new offensive line coach. He was a good one.
Secondary Got Better: The secondary, meanwhile, returned only one starter from ’97, corner Dwayne Goodrich. The departure of Terry Fair was tough but the new trio of Deon Grant, Fred White and Steve Johnson was, on the whole, an upgrade.
Speaking of Goodrich: He was named Defensive MVP of the Fiesta Bowl win over Florida State, thanks to his 54-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter and his work shadowing All-America receiver Peter Warrick.
What I’d forgotten is that Goodrich was injured late in the first half and didn’t play in the second. Gerald Griffin filled in and the Vols closed ranks. Warrick finished with one catch for seven yards.
The Other Pick Six: The Vol defense was adept at forcing turnovers. But aside from Goodrich’s bowl heroics, there was just one other Pick Six.
By defensive end Shaun Ellis, of all people, 90 yards for a crucial touchdown in the 17-9 win at Auburn on Oct. 3.
To The House: The ’98 Vols returned only one kickoff for a touchdown all season. The timing was perfect.
On Oct. 24, Alabama scored in the third quarter, added a two-point conversion to cut UT’s lead to 14-11. Peerless Price took this one 100 yards for the answering score. Bama’s momentum was snuffed. Tennessee won 35-18.
It was the first game Price was used for kickoff returns since his 1996 ankle injury.
SEC Stat Leaders: Tennessee led the SEC in just two statistical categories in ’98. Both were crucial.
The Vols topped the SEC in rushing at 211.3 yards per game. The other was turnover ratio, at plus 1.33 per game. Remember the four fumble recoveries against Florida? Or Clint Stoerner?
Tighten Up: With Martin being a new starter, I would have thought the game plan would offer tight end targets as a safety-valve option. Wrong.
John Finlayson caught only four passes all year, one a touchdown from Veazey. Starter Eric Diogu didn’t catch a single pass.
One-Sided Shootout: The Nov. 21 date at Kentucky caused anxiety. The ‘Cats were 7-3 and the previous year Tim Couch and Peyton Manning had engaged in record-setting aerial fireworks. Could the Vols, minus Manning, match scores with Couch?
Yep. Tennessee scored on 10 of its first 12 possessions. Final 59-21. The day ended with kicker Jeff Hall accounting for 13 points to become the SEC career scoring leader.
Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football national championship, 25 years later
