The 1998 National Championship

Team of destiny? Lucky? Call them what you will. The 1998 Tennessee Volunteers did what elite programs do — find ways to win games. And they managed to find a way to win every single week. Because of that, for one cool night in the Arizona desert, the color orange shone the brightest, and any hater or doubter of the program could say nothing.

"The Doubters are silenced, finally," wrote Mike Strange of the Knoxville News Sentinel. "Tennessee came to the desert ... certain there would be a national championship for the taking ... They were right. It was no mirage. ... A few minutes after midnight back in Knoxville, four months to the day after they began their unlikely quest with an unlikely win at Syracuse — the No. 1 ranked Vols completed their perfect season of destiny."

Sometimes great things spring up from unexpected places. After all, stars Peyton Manning, Marcus Nash, and Leonard Little were gone from a team that had been manhandled months earlier by Nebraska 42–17 in the Orange Bowl. The Vols were predicted by the SEC media to finish second behind the Gators in the SEC East. Oh, and the Vols would be breaking in a new quarterback, always a concern for a team looking to make national waves.

But destiny was a hard word to escape for this football team, even from the start of the season. Against 17th-ranked Syracuse, the No. 10 Vols drove 72 yards and capitalized on a questionable fourth-down pass-interference penalty on Syracuse, with Jeff Hall booting through a 27-yard field goal as time expired for a 34–33 thriller in the Carrier Dome.

Two weeks later, the Vols hosted the Florida Gators in a Neyland Stadium night game, looking to snap a five-game losing streak to Steve Spurrier. Behind a swarming and opportunistic defense that forced five turnovers and an offense that garnered just enough production, Coach Fulmer shed the Florida monkey off his back in a 20–17 overtime victory, the first overtime game in UT history. A key goal-line stand and victory at Auburn masked the season-ending injury of star tailback Jamal Lewis. But the Vols rode the legs of Travis Henry and Travis Stephens to blowout wins against Georgia and Alabama.

When their times were called in Lewis' absence, Stephens and Henry rose to the challenge. Henry carried the Vols to victory in the waning moments against Arkansas after a fumble recovery. With formerly undefeated UCLA and Kansas State having lost in the season's final week, and the Vols against the ropes in the second half against Mississippi State, quarterback Tee Martin came to life in the fourth quarter, finding both Peerless Price and Cedrick Wilson for touchdowns within minutes to clinch a trip to Tempe and the Fiesta Bowl.

It had been a season of making plays: Billy Ratliff's fumble recovery against Arkansas, Deon Grant's leaping interception late versus Florida, and Shaun Ellis' rumbling interception for a touchdown against Auburn. The Lewis run that set up Hall's winning kick at Syracuse. Price's kickoff return for a touchdown to put away the Tide. Key contributions and impact plays came from everywhere.

"This team has consistently found ways to win," Coach Fulmer said. "It's not one or two guys. It's a whole football team believing they can get it done and working hard to get it done."

And in the Fiesta Bowl vs. Florida State, it was no different. After Shawn Bryson's catch in the corner of the end zone to open the scoring, Dwayne Goodrich picked off a Marcus Outzen pass and raced 54 yards for a 14–0 lead. The Noles fought back and drew within five, at 14–9. The Vols held Peter Warrick to one catch for seven yards, but his long punt return set up a Sebastian Janikowski field goal before the half. After an idling third quarter, the final paint stroke on the Big Orange masterpiece came from Price. He hauled in a 79-yard TD pass, a Fiesta Bowl record, for a 20–9 lead with just more than nine minutes remaining. A late desperation pass from Outzen was intercepted, and the Big Orange ran out the last 76 seconds on the clock for a historic 23–16 victory.

The stadium was mainly hued orange-and-white, and for those who attended, they got to see Tennessee history 47 years in the making.

"I want to say an unbelievable thank-you to the crowd of loyal Tennessee Volunteers," said Coach Fulmer, clutching the national championship trophy.

"It's been 47 years since Tennessee football has brought one of these home. We've got a special place for it."

General Robert R. Neyland

General Robert R. Neyland is the first name in coaching at the University of Tennessee and, with all due respect to the other coaches of his generation, one of the most influential and imitated coaches of his time. Behind Neyland's single-wing offenses, consistent and disciplined blocking schemes, fierce defenses, and efficient special teams, Coach Neyland was consistently on the winning side of the ledger, even in his early coaching years.

Neyland arrived in Knoxville in 1925 as an assistant defensive coach. He made his presence felt that first season when he filled in one game for head coach M.B. Banks, who was sick. Neyland led the Vols to a 12–7 home win over Georgia. Newspapers proclaimed it the biggest upset of the year in the South. Banks left that December for the head coaching job at Knoxville Central High School, and Neyland was promoted as his successor. In his first seven seasons, his teams lost only twice in 68 games. For his career, he only lost 31 times in 216 games.

One of his biggest accomplishments was emerging victorious against the University of Alabama, perhaps most notably in 1928. The Tide had not regularly been on the Vols' schedule (they hadn't played in 14 years), and Alabama coach Wallace Wade was willing to take on Neyland's boys. He most likely wished he hadn't that day. Gene McEver stunned the Tide with a 98-yard opening kickoff return for a score, and the Vols won 15–13 in Tuscaloosa. McEver later said, "Not that that was the greatest game, but that's the game that put Tennessee on the map."

Neyland quickly earned the respect of Wade that day. "First, [Neyland]'s a very brilliant man, and had a lot of character, and could influence young people," Wade said. "Inspire them. His teams were always well trained, well-conditioned, and played with spirit."

Wade continued, "One of the things I used to misjudge: I used to think he was lucky. I began to realize after time that luck turns sometimes, but it never did with him, because he trained his players to take advantage of opportunities."

In whatever endeavors Neyland took on, he seemed to find success. In 1912 Neyland attended the United States Military Academy, where he was a successful student and became the heavyweight boxing champion at the academy. After college, he was offered a baseball contract by the New York Giants, which he turned down to join World War I.

Neyland went on to a lengthy and decorated military career. He took his first military leave from coaching to serve a year in Panama in 1935. In 1941 Major Neyland returned to active duty as a soldier in the army, in the midst of World War II. In 1944 Neyland was promoted to brigadier general and sent to the Far East. He was then sent to Calcutta, India, where he helped to move supplies and war materials to British, American, and Chinese forces.

He returned to...