A perfect season and a shot at the inaugural BCS National Championship hung in the balance on December 5, 1998, as top-ranked Tennessee needed a furious fourth-quarter rally to hold off a scrappy Mississippi State squad, 24-14, in front of a sellout crowd of 74,795 at the Georgia Dome.
It was a defensive slugfest from the opening whistle, with mistakes proving costly on both sides. Mississippi State struck first when defensive back Robert Bean intercepted a Tee Martin pass and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown, putting the heavily favored Vols in an early 7-0 hole. Tennessee answered before halftime to take a 10-7 lead, but the Bulldogs — playing as roughly two-touchdown underdogs — refused to fold.
The game’s defining gut-punch came with under nine minutes to go, when Mississippi State’s Kevin Prentiss fielded a punt, hesitated along the sideline, then broke free for an 83-yard touchdown return that flipped the score to 14-10 in the Bulldogs’ favor. Suddenly, Tennessee’s national championship hopes were in jeopardy, and a battered Tee Martin — who’d been sacked four times and harassed throughout the afternoon — had to find a way to answer.
He delivered in spectacular fashion. Facing pressure once again on a 1st-and-10 from the Mississippi State 41, Martin launched a high, arcing throw into the end zone that fell perfectly into the hands of Peerless Price, who got a foot down to give Tennessee a 17-14 lead with 6:15 remaining. The defense followed with an immediate answer of its own: on the very next play, linebacker Eric Westmoreland scooped up a fumble forced by a sack on Mississippi State’s offense, handing the ball right back to the Vols at the MSU 26. Tennessee wasted no time — it took just one play for Martin to find Cedric Wilson for a 26-yard touchdown, sealing the 24-14 final.
Price was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, finishing with six catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, while also returning two kickoffs for 55 yards. Running back Travis Henry paced Tennessee’s ground attack with 120 yards on 26 carries. University of Tennessee Athletics
The victory kept Tennessee undefeated and locked in the No. 1 spot, sending the Vols to the brand-new Fiesta Bowl to play for the first-ever BCS National Championship. Tennessee completed the dream season with a 23-16 win over Florida State to claim the title. Mississippi State, in its first and only SEC Championship Game appearance, fell to Texas 38-11 in the Cotton Bowl to close out a memorable underdog run.
🚨 Subscribe →
🎥 Watch more SEC Football Highlights →
💻 More SEC Football Content →
🌐 SEC Social
#SEC #1998SECChampionship #SECFootballChampionship #SECFootball #collegefootball #Highlights #GeorgiaDome #AtlantaGeorgia #TennesseeVolunteers #MississippiStateBulldogs #InauguralBCSNationalChampionship #RobertBean #TeeMartin #kevinPrentiss #peerlessPrice #EricWestmoreland #CedricWilson #TravisHenry
This article was gathered automatically by our news bot. We help YouTubers by driving traffic to them for free. The featured image in this article is the thumbnail of the embedded video. Thank you for visiting Win Big Sports Network and wbsnsports.com. For more sports, news, and entertainment, follow us on Twitter @WBSNsports or like our page on Facebook.
#Sports #Video #Highlights
