WATCH: Tennessee players recall favorite moment from 1997 SEC Championship season
The Tennessee Volunteers certainly had a memorable season in 1997.
The team, led by star QB Peyton Manning, would head to the SEC Championship Game after going 10-1 in the regular season. Tennessee’s lone loss in the regular season was to Florida. The Vols followed that loss with eight straight wins, climbing all the way to No. 3 in the nation heading into the matchup with Auburn in Atlanta.
The Volunteers would win a 30-29 thriller in what would be the first of back-to-back SEC Championships for Tennessee and head coach Phil Fulmer. Unfortunately, Tennessee would lose to No. 2 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl that year, but the 1997 season remains a highlight for Tennessee.
Tennessee Football shared a video of the 20-year reunion celebrating that team, and there is no denying that the ’97 Vols were a special group:
Champs reunited. #GBO pic.twitter.com/odcTAAb31t
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) November 21, 2017
Eight players from that ’97 team were selected in the 1998 NFL Draft with Manning going first overall to the Indianapolis Colts.