KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The 1998 Tennessee football season is the one Vol fans cherish the most.
It's the season Tennessee won the national championship that has fans always quoting, "Feels like '98." It's been 25 seasons since UT won it all.
Going into that season, the Vols were expected to have a drop-off after star quarterback Peyton Manning and seven other Vols were picked in the NFL Draft. UT exceeded all expectations.
However, before the 1998 season, head coach Phillip Fulmer was unhappy after a string of bad practices for the Vols.
"We had a team meeting," quarterback Tee Martin said. "And in that meeting, Coach Fulmer was obviously not happy. When he is not happy, he paces and twirls his whistle around his finger. We were like 'What is it now?'"
Fulmer told the team they weren't playing well. He went as far as to say the team would only win six games that season playing the way they were.
"It just came out, but that's what we were looking like," Fulmer said
That lit a fire in the team that initially sparked the title run.
"The true chip on our shoulder was self-motivation that came through the coaching staff and Coach Fulmer challenging us," Martin said. "And saying that we were less than what we thought we could be."
Fulmer saw the potential and depth of the '98 team but knew they'd have to take ownership after eight players were taken in the NFL Draft, including Peyton Manning.
"Are you guys going to be big enough men to step into those shoes? And be the leaders instead of the followers," Fulmer said.
They all stepped up all season. The team did it when it mattered most, like in the nail-biters against Syracuse, which Tennessee won 34-33 after a game-winning kick from Jeff Hall. The Florida game was tight too, but the Vols edged out the Gators in overtime, 20-17.
But the Vols say the defining win of the season was how they beat Arkansas. A fumble recovery for the Vols with less than two minutes to go led to a drive punctuated with Travis Henry scoring the game-winning TD to win 28-24.
"That's when everybody said 'Alright, it's time. We are not going to lose another game.'" kicker Jeff Hall said.
And the confidence continued to grow.
"Arriving at the stadium, arriving on campus and just knowing you're going to win and walk off the bus and beat the pulp out of somebody else, that's a fun feeling," Hall said. "Everybody felt that way and after the game, it wasn't a surprise."
The Vols never lost, overcoming the pressure of staying undefeated and injuries to key players like Al Wilson and Jamal Lewis.
In the BCS National Championship, they took down Florida State 23-16 to win it all.
"That moment it was over and we won, there has just never been another feeling other than my children or my family or my wife and that kind of things like that," Fulmer said.
This was a team that turned it all around.
"First of all, it was party time," Martin said with a laugh. "We enjoyed ourselves. We enjoyed it. It was the first week we could enjoy it. To ultimately win every game and win the national championship. We felt like it all paid off."
When they reflect back on their success they think about how they played for each other.
"We had an incredible sense of humility and an incredible sense of accountability to one another," Hall said. "No one really cared who got the credit. But everyone was definitely pushing in the same direction and pushing really hard."
A season that will live in Tennessee history, and looking back on it 25 years later, they're grateful for the memories and relationships formed along the way.
"We did something not many will ever be a part of and that was to win a national championship," Fulmer said. "I do cherish those moments and memories and look forward to these reunions that we have at different times. I know I could pick up the phone right now and call most of them and they'd respond to me and I'd certainly respond to them."
