Tennessee football: Steve Spurrier talks Peyton Manning, best win over Vols

Former Duke Blue Devils, Florida Gators and South Carolina Gamecocks Steve Spurrier talked about Tennessee football and his best win over the Volunteers.

He may be the reason for costing Tennessee football its best chance at having a Heisman Trophy winner. But Steve Spurrier thinks Peyton Manning was robbed in 1997 when the award went to Charles Woodson.

The Ol’ Ball Coach did an interview with Chris Low of ESPN that was published on Monday, his 75th birthday. In the process, he discussed a wide range of topics, but Rocky Top was one that would not be overlooked.

Spurrier, who grew up in East Tennessee, never seemed to have any problem giving Tennessee football trouble. As a player, he never faced the Vols, but he went 14-10 against them as a coach, including 1-1 with the Duke Blue Devils, 8-4 with the Florida Gators and 5-5 with the South Carolina Gamecocks.

However, he says his favorite win over Rocky Top came in 1982, when he was an offensive coordinator at Duke and they beat Johnny Majors’ team 25-24 to open the season. Spurrier’s reasoning? UT was loaded with athletes that year. Here’s what Low wrote.

"“The World’s Fair was in town, and they had Reggie White, Willie Gault, just a heck of a lot of good players,” Spurrier told ESPN recently. “It was my first game coaching in Neyland Stadium. I had been there for games with my dad and brother growing up, but never coached there."

Of course, Spurrier then dominated the Vols in the mid-1990s as SEC defenses had trouble adjusting to his high-powered offenses. He beat UT five straight times from 1993 to 1997. To be fair, he won four straight SEC titles from 1993 to 1996, went undefeated in the SEC for two straight years and won a national title in 1996. So he dominated everybody.

We all remembers Spurrier’s quotes against Rocky Top, saying that you can’t spell Citrus without UT and that Manning returned for his senior year because he wanted to be three-time Citrus Bowl MVP. He was the first person responsible for Manning becoming known as the guy who couldn’t win the big one, and Manning did indeed go winless against the Gators for his college career.

Still, Spurrier says Manning is a top three pro quarterback of all time with Joe Montana and Tom Brady, and he said that Manning was robbed of the Heisman Trophy in 1997. It’s a bit ironic seeing as how his win over the Vols that year is a huge part of the reason for Manning losing it to Charles Woodson of the Michigan Wolverines.

A Heisman winner himself in 1966, Spurrier says he voted for Manning. Of course, despite beating the Vols that year, Manning still led UT to an SEC Championship, where he delivered what is arguably still the greatest performance in SEC Championship history to beat the Auburn Tigers 30-29. He had help from the LSU Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs, who both upset Florida in 1997.

Looking back at Spurrier’s career, he was a guy Tennessee football fans couldn’t resist hating. However, everybody has gained a newfound appreciation for him in recent years, and the SEC is simply not the same without his personality.

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When you think about it, the Vols and Spurrier were destined to be rivals. Remember, he’s from East Tennessee, and he spurned the Vols when they Doug Dickey, a Florida grad, was there to go play for Florida. Then he dominated the Vols in the 1990s when Dickey was athletic director.

It even started back in 1990, his first year. UT beat Florida 45-3, but Florida finished with a half-game better record in the SEC. Still, the Vols won the title because Florida was on probation, and Spurrier never fails to mention that team. You know he harbors some resentment over that.

Given all of those facts, it would seem a bit ironic for Spurrier to stick up for Manning, but anybody who knows of him beneath his antics knows he has a deep respect for the SEC and all its elite players and coaches. That shouldn’t be overlooked just because he liked to have some fun at his rivals’ expense.

Understanding nuances and appreciating every moment of his career is what made Spurrier great. It’s why he could appreciate his win over Tennessee football as an assistant at Duke more than any of his wins when he was with Florida.