Three reasons Tennessee football won title in 1998 and not 1997

Here’s why the Tennessee football Volunteers won the national title in 1998, not 1997.

We all know the story. Tennessee football finally won the national title the year they replaced their star quarterback and greatest player in history, Peyton Manning. They went from 11-2 and an SEC title in 1997 to 13-0 and winning it all in 1998 while replacing Manning and All-American and future NFL Pro Bowler Leonard Little.

Future NFL starting center Trey Teague, top cornerback, return specialist and future NFL starter Terry Fair, record-setting receiver Marcus Nash and defensive end Jonathan Brown, who had 13.5 sacks in 1997, also left. Oh, and freshman All-American and future 2,000-yard NFL rusher Jamal Lewis suffered a season-ending injury four games into 1998.

So how did Tennessee football pull it off? How could they be so loaded in 1997 but not win it until 1998? The narrative is that they just got luckier breaks and were more unified as a team. But a deeper dive tells a different story.

A look at the collection of starters overall, just a couple of breaks in the schedule and more experience from an elite recruiting class all led to the 1998 tea getting the breaks that the 1997 team didn’t get. There were numerous factors in play beyond just the recognizable NFL talent, which stood out way more in 1997.

In this post, we’re going to break down all of these reasons. We’ll take a deep dive into the roster and the schedule.

However, there are numerous other factors in play that had a significant impact on the Vols being able to finally break through with Tee Martin instead of Manning. Let’s go ahead and analyze why. These are the three reasons Tennessee football won the national title in 1998 and not 1997.