Editor’s note: This is the second story in a series reflecting on the 1998 Tennessee football team that finished 13-0 and won the BCS national championship.
Going on the road and beating a ranked Syracuse team in the first game of the post-Peyton Manning era provided an early jolt of momentum for the 1998 Tennessee team.
The celebration ceased almost immediately when the Volunteers returned to Knoxville that night with an open date ahead.
“We all knew what was next,” the team’s head coach, Phillip Fulmer, wrote in his book “A Perfect Season.”
Fulmer recorded his weekly television show with “Voice of the Vols” John Ward and moved on to reviewing video of the team’s next opponent before his head hit the pillow after the dramatic 34-33 win at Syracuse.