#3 Tennessee takes first BCS title in desert

Teams: Tennessee defeats Florida State 23–16

Date and Location: January 4, 1999; The Fiesta Bowl held at Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona

How They Got There: Tennessee began its first season of the post-Peyton Manning era ranked No. 10 and after surviving a scare in the opener against Syracuse, the Volunteers did something Manning could not during his four-year tenure – beat Florida. With the second-ranked Gators behind them, the Vols cruised by the rest of their schedule – save for a scare at Georgia and a narrow 28-24 victory over No. 10 Arkansas – to became one of two undefeated teams in the nation (Tulane). As was the standard in the ’90s, No. 2 Florida State trounced every one of its opponents, except unranked North Carolina State in the second game of the season. The team rebounded to win out but experienced a major blow when quarterback Chris Weinke suffered a season-ending neck injury during the team’s 10th game against Virginia. Marcus Outzen took over and led the Seminoles to victories over Wake Forest and No. 4 Florida in his first and second collegiate starts.

Explanation: The game started out sloppy and never quite steadied itself. Both teams committed their share of penalties and turnovers but the game still ranks third on Athlon’s countdown for the tight score throughout and compelling storylines.

Outzen made just his third career start but proved his toughness during the win over Florida. His mobility gave the Seminoles a different dimension to their offense but his inexperience showed at times. Outzen completed only nine of his 22 passes and six of those went to receiver Ron Dugans. Meanwhile, Tee Martin remained steady for the Vols and found his favorite target in crucial situations.

Tennessee jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead in the first two minutes of the second quarter with a four-yard touchdown pass and an interception return for a touchdown by Dwayne Goodrich. Florida State responded with a touchdown and a field goal before halftime.

Neither team scored in the third, but Martin connected with Price five minutes into the fourth quarter for a 79-yard strike that appeared to put the game away. After John Hall added a field goal to go up 23-9, Florida State bounced back with an Outzen touchdown run at the four-minute mark. The ’Noles had a chance to drive for the tying score but Outzen tossed an interception on the first play after they recovered a fumble.

Tennessee won its first championship since 1951 and the first title game under the BCS format.

Score by quarters:    1      2      3      4       F
Florida State...........  0      9      0      7   –  16
Tennessee..............  0     14     0      9   –  23

Game MVP: Tennessee WR Peerless Price (4–199, 1 TD).

Notable Performances: Tennessee QB Tee Martin (Passing: 11–18–278, 2 TD, 2 INT; Rushing 10–19), Florida State QB Marcus Outzen (9–22–145, 0 TD, 2 INT), Florida State WR Ron Dugans (6–135).

Unexpected Occurrence: The Peter Warrick and Peerless Price battle never quite materialized as Warrick, who posted better regular season numbers fizzled to the tune of one catch for seven yards. Price, meanwhile, took home MVP honors.

Quote: “We shot ourselves in the butt tonight. It hurts, we all played as hard as we could, but we played like a team that has been off for a month and two weeks. That’s not to say that Tennessee didn’t play a tremendous game, but we feel that we didn’t get many breaks tonight and we killed ourselves with penalties.” – Florida State Quarterback Marcus Outzen.