'Part 11 of the #CoronaReWatch continues the 1998 season with a trip to Athens for a critical SEC East matchup. Tennessee has won the last seven meetings against the Bulldogs, dating back to 1988. But Georgia fans are sure this is the year they finally beat the Volunteers and become serious contenders for a conference title.
Despite Phillip Fulmer saying after last week’s Auburn game that running back Jamal Lewis would be fine, the star sophomore is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. For Lewis, it comes right before facing his home-state school. In ’97, Lewis ran for 232 yards on 22 carries against Georgia in his second career start. Besides Travis Stephens in the Swamp in 2001, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a UT back refuse to be tackled more than Lewis vs the Bulldogs his freshman season.
Without Lewis, the Vols are turning to a pair of sophomore running backs: Travis Stephens and Travis Henry. In the three games vs Syracuse, Florida and Auburn so far this season, the duo combined for just 25 yards on 10 carries.
Looking back, one option I’m surprised the coaches didn’t try was using Shawn Bryson at running back, a position he played in the NFL. But that shows how valuable he was at fullback to that team. He’s probably the most underrated player on the ’98 squad, at least on offense.
The loss of Lewis will also put a lot more pressure on first-year starting quarterback Tee Martin, who is off to a bit of a slow start this year. Again discounting the Houston game, Tee is just 18-of-60 (30%) for 275 yards (4.6 YPA) with 1 TD and 1 INT. He’s also rushed for 88 yards and a score on 22 carries.
Game five: No. 4 Tennessee (4-0, 2-0 SEC) at No. 7 Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC) Link: Click Here To Watch Along
— The Bulldogs are undefeated and fresh off a very impressive win at No. 6 LSU. 21-year-old true freshman quarterback Quincy Carter had his coming out party in Baton Rouge and two-way star Champ Bailey is doing his best Charles Woodson impersonation. UGA is coached by Jim Donnan, who’s in his third season in Athens.
— This is the first top-10 matchup Between The Hedges in 15 years,
according to CBS’s Sean McDonough. ESPN’s College Gameday is in Athens for the first time ever, complete with WCW wrestler Goldberg cutting a promo on Tennessee, saying “Volunteers…you’re next!” (Interestingly, it would be VFL Kevin Nash who would hand Goldberg his first loss in pro wrestling a few months later. A little bit of foreshadowing???)< — UT safety Deon Grant recovers a botched Georgia snap on the second play of the game. The Vols take over at the UGA 19, but Champ Bailey intercepts a pass intended for Peerless Price on Tennessee’s second play from scrimmage.
— Later in the opening quarter, Tee scrambles for 17 yards to the UGA 7 on a 3rd-and-14 play. The Vols can’t get in the end zone and settled for a Jeff Hall field goal to put Tennessee up 3-0. The announcers note the Vols are now outscoring their opponents 41-3 in the first quarter this year. Very impressive.
— Raynoch Thompson delivers a helmet-to-helmet spear on Georgia punt returner Michael Greer. It was clearly a late hit, although Greer technically wasn’t down. It’s an obvious 15-yard penalty. In today’s game, Raynoch would be ejected for targeting and suspended multiple games. However, Georgia putting a white, walk-on wearing #36 back to return punts isn’t a recipe for success, either.
— The Vols are already missing starting safety Fred White, who is out with a bruised knee, and now the other safety — Deon Grant — is shaken up. Georgia takes advantage and Carter finds a receiver deep downfield on 3rd-and-11. The play gets to the Vols’ 15, but a personal foul on UGA’s right tackle moves it back to the 30.
— Grant returns and nearly makes a great play for an interception. Tennessee holds the Bulldogs to a field goal. We’re tied at 3-all with 1:55 left in the first quarter.
— Early in the second quarter, Tee is strip-sacked. UGA initially falls on the ball, but center Spencer Riley wrestles it away at the UT 31. Two plays later, Tee is intercepted at midfield. An unsportsmanlike penalty against the Bulldogs moves the ball back to the UGA 35.
— Georgia gets to the Vols’ 23, but miss a 40-yard field goal. Still 3-all midway through the second quarter.
— Tee is wearing a new jersey without his name on the back on UT’s ensuing drive. We never find out why. Travis Stephens picks up 11 yards on a nice 3rd down cutback run, then a Cedrick Wilson catch-and-run gets to the UGA 22. It’s Wilson’s third catch of the half after only having two receptions on the season entering the game.
— The drive stalls, but Hall makes a 40-yarder to put Tennessee back on top, 6-3, with 3:17 left in the first half.
— Georgia fumbles the ensuing kickoff out of bounds at their own 7-yard line and punt the ball back to the Big Orange. As has been the case most of the day, the game is being played on Georgia’s side of the field.
— A 16-yard catch by Peerless Price gets the Vols to the UGA 35. Hall eventually makes his third field goal of the half and Tennessee takes a 9-3 lead into the locker room.
— The Vols get the ball to start the third quarter and put together their best drive of the day. Tee scrambles up the middle for 30 yards to the UGA 4, then Cedrick Wilson beats Champ Bailey on an out-route for the game’s first touchdown. A two-point conversion fails, but Tennessee extends its lead to 15-3 early in the third quarter. Tennessee outscoring Georgia 13-0 in the middle eight minutes of the game (last four of the first half and first four of the second half) would be the difference in this game.
— On the Bulldogs’ first possession of the second half, Carter heaves a deep ball into double-coverage and Dwayne Goodrich intercepts the pass and returns it to the UT 41.
— On a 3rd-and-4 near midfield, Jermaine Copeland beats Kirby Smart (yikes!) over the middle for 20 yards to the UGA 33. Travis Stephens runs behind the left side of the offensive line for 13 yards on the next play.
— Facing a 3rd-and-goal at the UGA 3, Peerless Price catches a screen, embarrasses Kirby Smart (double yikes!) with a nice juke and dives into the end zone for another Big Orange score. All of a sudden, Tennessee is up 22-3 with 6:06 remaining in the third quarter.
— Georgia drives into Tennessee territory, but a jet sweep to Champ Bailey ends with him throwing an interception to Deon Grant in double-coverage. This might take Bailey out of consideration for the Heisman, but it’s still early in the season.
— Travis Stephens then looks like Jamal Lewis running between the tackles and draining the clock. Everyone in the stadium knows the Vols are running the ball, yet Georgia can’t stop it. Watching the Vols guards pulling and just mauling defenders has become one of my guilty pleasures in re-watching the ’98 season. It happens over and over in every game.
— On 3rd-and-long, Tee is stripped, but Cosey Coleman recovers. The Vols punt from the UGA 36 after taking a delay of game. It’s a very conservative call by Phillip Fulmer, but the ‘Dawgs aren’t a threat against the Vols defense today. Quincey Carter is getting knocked down on seemingly every drop-back.
— Georgia goes 66 yards in six plays to the UT 15, but the drive ends with Carter overthrowing Bailey in the end zone on fourth down.
— Tennessee takes over and eventually run the clock out.
— Final: Tennessee 22, Georgia 3.
— Tee finishes 16-of-26 for 156 yards with 2 TDs and 2 INTs. He also had 45 rushing yards.
— Travis Stephens ran for 107 yards on 20 carries (5.4 YPC). Travis Henry had 16 carries for 53 yards (3.3 YPC).
— I was only 9-years-old at the time, but I learned a very valuable life lesson this day: the Georgia Bulldogs are the ultimate pretenders in college football. Florida and Alabama have a mental edge on the Vols and have won games with inferior teams occasionally, but Tennessee should NEVER fear the pups in Athens. Georgia is nothing more than Texas A&M with three years of Herschel Walker.
— Georgia would go 9-3 in ’98, losing to Tennessee, Florida and Georgia Tech. Champ Bailey finished 7th in the Heisman, despite having a better statistical season than Charles Woodson did the previous year.
Next up for the ’98 Vols in part 12 of the #CoronaReWatch is the Third Saturday in October. Tennessee is on a 3-game winning streak vs the Crimson Tide. Better have those victory cigars handy!
2020 Vols in the ’98 Two-deep Recently Tony, Brian and Sinco went through the ’98 team and tried to figure out which of the 2020 Volunteers could crack the two-deep.
There were more than I expected. In addition to making the two-deep, I also went through to include players who would’ve been recruited by Tennessee in the late 90s when the Vols were signing top-5 classes regularly.
OFFENSE
QB: Tee Martin/Burney Veezey
RB: Jamal Lewis/Travis Henry/Travis Stephens
FB: Shawn Bryson/Will Bartholomew/Phillip Crosby
WR: Peerless Price/Cedrick Wilson/David Martin
WR: Jermaine Copeland/Eric Parker/Kevin Taylor
TE: Eric Diogu/John Finlayson
LT: Chad Clifton/Josh Tucker
LG: Mercedes Hamilton/Toby Champion
C: Spencer Riley/Diron Robinson
RG: Cosey Coleman/Diron Robinson
RT: Jarvis Reado/Josh Tucker
Trey Smith is the only current Vol I’m confident would start on the ’98 team. He’d take Hamilton’s spot at left guard. Trey Smith and Cosey Coleman are the two best guards I’ve seen at Tennessee. Brandon Kennedy and Cade Mays would both probably make the two-deep. Kennedy would challenge Riley for starting center. The two sophomore 5-star tackles — Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright — aren’t good enough yet to crack the two-deep, but almost no young linemen did for those late 90s Vols teams. Morris and Wright would have two or three years to develop before they’d be asked to start. Josh Palmer would be in the two-deep. He’d probably be the No. 4 WR behind Price, Copeland and Cedrick Wilson.
Jarrett Guarantano would beat out Veezey for the backup QB job, but the season goes south in a hurry if Tee Martin were to get hurt. Harrison Bailey would be projected to play over Veezey too.
Eric Gray and Ty Chandler were good enough recruits to be on the ’98 team, but they aren’t taking carries away from Lewis, Henry, Stephens or even Bryson. Tight end is probably the ’98 team’s weakest position, but it also is for the 2020 Vols.
Other players who would've been recruited by in the late 90s: Ramel Keyton, Malachi Wideman, Jalin Hyatt, Jimmy Calloway, Cooper Mays and Jackson Lampley.
DEFENSE RE: Shaun Ellis/DeAngelo Lloyd
DT: Jeff Coleman/Billy Ratliff/Fred Weary
DT: Darwin Walker/Ron Green
LE: Corey Terry/Will Overstreet
LOLB: Eric Westmoreland/Dominique Stevenson
MLB: Al Wilson/Chris Ramsur
ROLB: Raynoch Thompson/Judd Granzow
CB: Dwayne Goodrich/Gerald Griffin
FS: Deon Grant/Golden/Mikki Allen
SS: Fred White/Derrick Edmonds
CB: Steve Johnson/Andre Lott
Nickel: Derrick Edmonds/Tad Golden
Have a hard time seeing any of the 2020 defensive linemen getting in the two-deep. Darel Middleton, Aubrey Solomon and Emmit Gooden might see some snaps in spot duty or blowouts. Henry To’oto’o would absolutely be in the two-deep. You could make the case he'd start over Eric Westmoreland, but Westmoreland is a better fit for John Chavis’ scheme, which puts speed at a premium. The Vols had the best starting linebackers in college football in ’98, so Henry T. even being mentioned as a possible starter shows how talented he is. Bryce Thompson would probably start over Steve Johnson. Alontae Taylor would battle to be in the two-deep.
Jaylen McCullough would be in the two-deep at safety, but not start. Other defensive players good enough for the ’98 roster: Quavaris Crouch, Roman Harrison, Keyshawn Lawrence, Deangelo Gibbs (DB), Omari Thomas, Tyler Baron, Len’Neth Whitehead (LB), Dominic Bailey, Morven Joseph, Bryson Eason, Martavius French,
Paxton Brooks might also beat out David Leaverton at punter. Outside of Hall’s field goal kicking, the ’98 Vols struggled on special teams. Their net punting was next-to-last in the SEC.
Thanks for reading!
Matt Dixon (@MattDixon3)'