Were any of you there for the 98 Arkansas game?

[Voltopia]

"Shame on the people who were leaving Neyland stadium moments ago." You tell 'em, Sean McDonough.

 

[IluvdoubleD's]

was that the six overtime game? i watched it on tv. it was a sweat breaking, game changing, hard ass game. it never ended.

nope, that was 2002. wrong year.

 

[Orangeslice13]

After the fumble TV went to commercial and it got kinda quiet in the stadium. Coming out of commercial T Henry started yelling at the Arky D that he was coming. From that moment till the end you almost couldn’t hear yourself it was so loud. We did manage to quiet down long enough for the O to snap the ball.

 

[Iam4utalways]

It was the first game I ever went to

Great 1st game.

 

[IluvdoubleD's]

I was down south visiting, and it was on antenna tv. My fam had Houston Nutt, and I had 60 dollars on UT, as I remember it.

 

[AshG]

I was in the band, it was my last year marching. What a way to go out. That whole season was just one magic moment after another.

 

[Frozevol]

I was a new father in 1998, was killing it at work and was successful and proud for the first time. But come game dat and I was sick as a dog with a nasty cold, so bad that I nearly bagged it. But it was the first time my Vols were ranked #1 in my lifetime and I had to be there. So I did some shots of Dickel and made it in. Luckily I had seats in the dry. It rained cold and the team was playing classic Fulmer ball…tight, conservative and listless. The way we normally played against Florida. Arkansas was sharp and killing us in the first half. We were out playing them in the second half and missed several opportunities to get the lead. When we went 4 and out near the end (why we threw four straight forced incompletions was baffling and very un-Fulmer) it turned gloomy and I was resisting headed out to drink the rest of the Dickel and kick my dog. Then the miracle happened, but we still had 50 yds to go to win. Travis Henry took the team on his back and drove us straight down the field while the Arkansas D finally caved under our monster OLine like others had done all season. I screamed, I yelled, I sang Rocky Top and couldn’t talk for a whole week afterwards. And I was the happiest I’ve been ….until a month and a half later in Tempe, when we got to do it all over again!

 

[Model12]

I was there (PP row 6) in the rain with the wife's cousin (arky fan). I saw one guy throw his ut shirt into the lower deck and stormed out at the 4th down play. I'll bet he was an all big-time fan when we won 4 minutes later.

Schmuck. You know who you are...

 

[wmcovol]

I was.

 

[UT_Dutchman]

I was living in married student housing in 98. Undergrad from 91-96. I spent my nineties assuming we would win every Saturday. That isn’t hyperbole.

Exactly, I always expected to win every game during the end of the Major years and the fulmer years. We were there in the drizzle, hopefully soon we will start having those same feelings again.
Go Vols!

 

[norriscraftbasser]

I was, also a nervous wreck! But how sweet that smokey mountain rain was!

 

[Nugget]

Yes I was. I was soaked. I sat in the bleachers above the North endzone. I watched Clint Stoerner fumble the ball while I looked through a pair of binoculars.

 

[Orangeslice13]

I was there (PP row 6) in the rain with the wife's cousin (arky fan). I saw one guy throw his ut shirt into the lower deck and stormed out at the 4th down play. I'll bet he was an all big-time fan when we won 4 minutes later.

Schmuck. You know who you are...

There was a guy in the row in front of me who threw his hat and said “**** this I’m leaving!” After the fourth down. I said “hold on we have 3 time outs, they can’t move the ball, we will get it back and win as time runs out”. He said “fine I’ll stay” when Henry scored that fool grabbed me, kissed me on the head and said “we’re naming or kid after you” his wife said “maybe, we might name our kid after you, what’s your name?”


The Red Woman still laughs about that.

 

[MadisonvilleVol]

I was there. Sec Q Row 62 Seat 26. I’m not so sure that the Arkansas game wasn’t louder than the UF game. That place was rocking. Best atmosphere at Neyland for those 2 games that I’ve ever witnessed.

 

[theroyz71]

My wife and I were there. She was 7 months pregnant with our oldest son. We sat one row from the top of the stadium.

 

[Volizona]

I was there. 98 was my last year in Knoxville as I was finishing up grad school. In those days it was all about the Florida game. That one game kept us out of the SEC championship several years in a row. We finally beat Florida a few weeks early and I felt like we would now control our own destiny. In the final minutes of the Arkansas game I remember thinking “how could we have blown this game after beating Florida. Another year wasted”. I hate to admit that I left feeling dejected. As I was about 50 yards from the stadium I heard loud cheering that sounded like an explosion. I ran over with a crowd of people to a guy in his car with the window rolled down screaming “Arkansas fumbled, we have the ball again”. Before I could even process what happened, I listened on the radio as Travis Henry quickly ran down the field and eventually into the end zone. What a game and season that was. Truly a season of destiny.

 

[Volizona]

.

 

[Volizona]

I envy y’all who are old enough to experience the 90s. Unfortunately I’ve seen us be pretty bad most of my life, also a lot of people my age and especially younger who live in Tennessee aren’t even Tennessee fans.

I remember in the 90s when we all wanted Fulmer fired when he lost 1-2 games a year and couldn’t figure out how to beat Florida. That gives you the mindset in the 90s vs today. Our expectations are lower to say the least.

 

[Volizona]

I was at UT from 96 to 2000 and was at every home game.
The atmosphere for every game, especially any SEC game where the other team had a chance to compete with us, was hard to describe. Electric.

The 98 game against Florida that year was the loudest game I have ever been to. Phenomenal. The hatred of Florida was so strong. You could feel it in the stadium.

The 98 game against Arkansas was very interesting. I was there with my brother. That was TN's first week in the AP poll as #1 team in the country. Arkansas came in undefeated.
We expected to dominate them.

The whole game just had a weird feeling to it. They jumped out to a 21-0 lead and it just seemed like it wasn't happening. That kind of thing did not happen then.
It kept building as TN was coming back but when Arkansas had the ball that last possession, there was just no way. Game absolutely felt over, which meant dreams of National Championship were over. People were
I'll never forget Stoerner stumbling and fumbling that football. Craziest play ever at a moment where we had to have something happen.

Once we got the ball back, there was no way they were going to stop us. That offensive line and Henry just dominated down the field.

Great game and great comeback. Most teams that win a National Championship have some luck along the way.

As great as that game was, nothing beats the game against Florida that year and beating them in OT.
Al Wilson was just tearing it up.
Nothing better than beating spurrier and the absolutely hated gators.

Just to add a cool story - in 96 I lived in same apartment complex with Peyton Manning. College Park apts.
One day me and a couple of friends went to his apt which was like two buildings over to get some stuff autographed. Not my idea - but I went anyway.
We knocked on the door and I'm thinking this probably isn't even his apartment. Peyton opened the door and he is talking to someone on a cordless phone. He doesn't know any of us.
He gets off the phone and invites us in. Talks about football, showed me the poster on their wall in the living room and was talking about what play it was, etc. Just an incredibly nice guy.

Have you two likes for both of your posts

 

[VOLnMiami]

I was in Las Vegas at a big tournament watching the game at one of the bars downstairs surrounded by college fans of all kinds...There were 2 Arkansas fans there who were living it up and I figured they were going to run out the clock so I wallked away mad as hell and got to the elevator when a Arizona St fan came running up to me and told me what just happened and to get back to the bar so me and him went flying through the slot machines lol and ran into the bar to see them get to the goal line and score the winning TD...I made a lot of new friends that day and the Arkansas fans were very nice but they were just crushed at what happened...I couldn't blame them really it was a hell of way to lose a game...But damn what a memory it was!

 

[spyfish007]

I was there as a student. Somewhere around section D row 30 and it felt like it happened right in front of us. The place went nuts!! As everyone mentioned there was no way were going to lose at that point. I've never felt so sure of a touchdown drive in my life. That OL whipped them that drive. Absolutely whipped them.

 

[LadyinOrange]

The whole game just had a weird feeling to it. They jumped out to a 21-0 lead and it just seemed like it wasn't happening.

21-3

 

[JustFunnN'Orange]

I was there, in the N end zone. An older couple were behind me and she had smuggled in a liter of Jim Beam in a huge purse!. Its a wonder I remember any of it. Thanks to the adrenaline at the end of the game I felt sober and was yelling my head off!!

 

[BigDave]

My wife and I were seated, along with six other UT alums all packing various bottles of liquid refreshments in our boots or waist bands, in the Arkansas section due to there were no tickets available . . . I just had surgery on my left thumb and was sporting a neo-orange fiberglass cast, thank goodness because it rained all damn day!! A Arky student was holding up a white board that read, "Houston there is a problem on Rocky Top" . . . . then the "stumble" . . . OMG! The crowd went freaking nuts and UT fans were running back to their seats!

After the clock ran out Neyland was rocking!! Rain and all . . . .

The kid with the white board, with an Arkansas state flag draped over his shoulders, was walking up the steps and I had to do it . . . "Hey Houston we solved the effing problem!" . . . he politely flipped me off and I returned the favor by extending my casted left hand to give him the "you're number one" salute!

After leaving Neyland, we walked to the strip and hit the Cooper Cellar . . . and drank for what seemed to be HOURS!! I have no idea who actually drove us back to our cabin just outside of Gatlinburg but God bless them . . . my Sunday morning hang over was killer . . . and my wife reminded me that I had to drive home, 4oo plus miles.

I was the happiest hung over Meffer all the way home!

GBO - beat the yardbirds!

 

[Jravol78]

I was there for that one as well as every other game that season along with my then 68 now 91 year old VFL grandfather . He went to his first game in 1945 which was a 45-0 beat down of Vanderbilt where he and several of his brothers took a bus from Sparta to Knoxville to attend . He bought his first season tickets in Q34 in 1964, he no longer attends but I still have them. He was one of those old school guys who would leave our home outside of Franklin at 4 a.m. for a 2:30 kickoff in order to “beat the traffic and get a good spot “ . We parked in G5 and true to his theory were about as close to Neyland Sradium as you could get without driving on the field .

Because OSU had been upset the week prior the Vols had ascended to #1 for the first time in forever and all seemed right with the world , that is until TN failed to convert on 4th down late in the 4th quarter . The #1 ranking seemed very short lived and as the pass sailed incomplete he mumbled something about “let’s get the hell outta here and beat this traffic , I’ve been watching this same show most of my damn life “. I didn’t want to go but he was also the type that would leave you there if he had to wait longer than 10 seconds so I dejectedly followed him to the car . Literally right as I was about to close my wet rain gear in the trunk the stadium seemed to explode and as soon as he turned on John Ward we knew why . Just as he was about to pull away this OL boy came running up from out of nowhere and said “Please sir don’t leave , please don’t leave , let me listen “ My grandfather , myself and the stranger listened as Travis Henry took control and the Vols pulled out the miracle .

As we were driving away he said , “boy don‘t you ever tell a soul that we were so damn stupid that we left that game ”. I told my grandmother as soon as we got home and have told it many times in front of him down through the years about just how damn stupid we were so he knows the secret is out .