2. 1997
Peyton Manning
11-2 (7-1)
SEC Championship; No. 7 AP; No. 8 Coaches; Orange Bowl
This is one of the greatest seasons by a senior quarterback in Tennessee football history and is the one season on here that happened specifically because of that quarterback. Peyton Manning made this happen by deciding to return for his senior season in the first place when he would have been the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.
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When he returned, he made sure to take advantage. Manning went off in the very first game, throwing for five touchdowns over the Texas Tech Red Raiders and winning at the UCLA Bruins, who would finish the year 10-2, by a score of 30-24. However, he lost to the Florida Gators again thanks to no rushing attack and no offensive line.
Finally, Phillip Fulmer and David Cutcliffe made a bold move by inserting freshman Jamal Lewis in at that position. Manning and Lewis made for the best backfield in the nation, and they went off. As they got on a roll, UT got a gift with the LSU Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs upsetting Florida.
Thanks to the dominoes falling, the Vols won the SEC East. Then they moved up to No. 3 in the nation and faced the Auburn Tigers in the SEC Championship. In that game, Manning threw for four touchdowns and led the Vols back from a 10-point second half deficit to win 30-29.
Manning finished the year completing 60 percent of his passes for 3,819 yards, 36 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, but he lost the Heisman to Charles Woodson. Then his career ended with a 42-17 Orange Bowl loss to the national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers.
However, this was still a championship season, which puts it up here, and it was just the program’s fifth season with 11 wins or more at the time. It also set the stage for Tennessee football’s 1998 national championship season without Manning.