Tennessee football: Vols fans once rooted for Ryan Leaf before NFL Draft

Before Peyton Manning comparisons, Tennessee football needed Ryan Leaf. Volunteers fans cheered the Washington State Cougars in the 1998 Rose Bowl.

Looking back, the period between December and May was one of major disrespect for Peyton Manning. He first lost out on the Heisman to Charles Woodson, and then Tennessee football fans had to deal with the Manning vs. Ryan Leaf debate in the NFL Draft. That’s a debate that seems laughable right now.

However, before that debate but after the Heisman ceremony, which is now more insulting to fans on Rocky Top, Leaf and Woodson actually met in the Rose Bowl, as the Washington State Cougars faced the Michigan Wolverines. In that moment, Vol fans cheered on Leaf.

More was at stake than just hoping Woodson would be embarrassed for winning a Heisman that Vol fans felt wasn’t rightfully his. Tennessee football could potentially be playing for a national championship if everything went right.

At the time, the Vols were 11-1. They had just beaten the Auburn Tigers to win the SEC Championship and ranked No. 3 in the nation, just barely ahead of the Florida State Seminoles, who shared the same loss as UT: at the Florida Gators.

This was one year before the BCS. In the Bowl Alliance system, there was a designated national championship game, but the Big Ten and (then) Pac-10 schools were iced out. Their champions would still face off in the Rose Bowl.

As a result, depending on how the season went, that Bowl Alliance national title game could only be a national title game if the winner had a case to be No. 1. Well, while the Vols were No. 3 and facing the No. 2 ranked and undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl, Michigan was 11-0 and No. 1. Washington State, meanwhile, was 10-1 and had won the conference.

Since WSU was No. 8 in one poll and No. 7 in another, it was pretty clear that if they beat Michigan and the Vols beat Nebraska, Manning and co. would finish the season No. 1 and consensus national champions. All they needed was for Leaf to beat the Wolverines, and that game was one day before UT’s matchup with Nebraska.

Up to then, there was reason to believe things would work out. The Vols got lucky with Florida losing two SEC games and then beating Florida State, and they had an epic comeback to beat the Auburn Tigers to win the SEC Title. Leaf, meanwhile, had become a star in Mike Prices’ system. He and Manning were the only two quarterbacks to beat the UCLA Bruins that year, ironically.

When kickoff happened, their confidence grew even more. Leaf connected with Kevin McKenzie to take a 7-0 first quarter lead. The the Cougars were marching down the field in the second quarter, poised to take a 14-0 lead. However, that’s when Woodson came alive. He intercepted a Leaf pass to give the Wolverines momentum, and Michigan tied it up.

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Although Leaf led a 99-yard drive for the go-ahead score in the third, a blocked extra point made it 13-7. Michigan then scored to take a 14-13 lead going into the fourth. Then they went up 21-13 in the fourth, and all the Wolverines could muster was a field goal.

If not for a missed extra point and a Leaf pick, WSU might have won this game. As it was, they lost 21-16, and Leaf let down Vol fans everywhere. The next day, with Manning banged up and the team knowing that it wouldn’t win a national title, they got torched by Nebraska’s triple-option, losing 42-17 in embarrassing fashion.

Of course, Tennessee football would win the national title the next year. But if Leaf had come through, maybe they would have had a different mentality in that Orange Bowl game. Either way, Heisman voters likely felt validated after those bowl games, which is a shame since Manning had better numbers than previous quarterbacks to win the award.

Meanwhile, Vol fans had to sit through the spring seeing comparisons to Manning and the guy who couldn’t come through for them when they needed him to. It only made things worse. But things turned around pretty quickly, for Manning and Rocky Top separately.