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When the kick sailed wide left, it felt like an earthquake.
The press box in Neyland Stadium shook on the night of Sept. 19, 1998 as Tennessee fans released five years of pent-up frustration and welcomed in unbridled joy. The Volunteerswinless against Florida since 1992, including the entirety of the Peyton Manning erahad beaten the hated Gators 2017 in an overtime thriller that ended on Collins Coopers missed kick. A season earlier, Tennessee had broken Floridas four-year stranglehold on the SEC title. Now the Vols had broken the Gators stranglehold on the rivalry. The moment felt like a literal seismic event, but it might have been an even bigger figurative one. It was the first major domino to fall in a season that ushered in a new way of determining college footballs national champion.
BCS rankings, 20 years later, leave legacy of controversy | SI.com