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Bob Stoops’s Last Visit to Neyland Stadium As a Coach: Tennessee-Florida 1998

By Caleb Calhoun

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The last time Oklahoma Sooners Head Coach Bob Stoops coached at Neyland Stadium was 1998 as a defensive coordinator, when the Vols beat the Florida Gators.

Is this an omen? Perhaps.

The last time Bob Stoops coached a football game in Neyland Stadium, the Vols ended a streak and scored their biggest home win in school history. Fans tore down both goalposts in pandemonium.

We are talking of course, of the 1998 epic Tennessee Volunteers-Florida Gators matchup, when the No. 6 ranked Vols pulled off a victory over the No. 2 Gators in overtime 20-17, the first time in six years that Tennessee had won at the time.

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Stoops was on the sideline in that game as defensive coordinator of the Gators under head coach Steve Spurrier.

So when he was downplaying Neyland Stadium earlier in the week, he can at least say he has experience coaching against Tennessee in Knoxville. But what he must have forgotten was that the crowd was the reason his Gators lost that game, forcing five Florida turnovers and a missed field goal by Collins Cooper in overtime that sealed the victory for the Vols.

Stoops had owned the Vols and Peyton Manning the three years before that, and with Tee Martin under center, Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe changed up his coaching strategy and went with a more conservative, ball-control offense. It worked.

So perhaps this is a good sign for this game. Like right now, Vols fans were extremely hungry for a win in that 1998 matchup. They had been frustrated for years against the Gators and were just hoping they could break through and win.

And they barely did.

This game has a similar feel from a more macro perspective. The Vols and the fan base are desperate for a huge win over a ranked team in a big game that matters, and the Sooners present that opportunity in Knoxville.

Maybe they will come through.

Next: Tennessee vs. Oklahoma: Last-Minute Predictions

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