Editor’s note: Welcome to Tennessee Week. Our special series — “Undefeated. Unexpected. Unforgettable.” — celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Vols’ 1998 national championship season.

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee’s expectations ahead of the 1998 season were different than they had been in quite sometime. Peyton Manning had departed for the NFL and the reins were handed to a junior from Mobile named Tee Martin. While the Vols managed to claim their first SEC crown since 1990 during the previous season, things were returning to form. Florida — a team Tennessee hadn’t beaten in five consecutive years — was the favorite in the East and Tennessee was ranked No. 10 team in both major preseason polls.

Kicker Jeff Hall, who kick-started Tennessee’s unexpected run to the national title, remembers the modest outlook.

“That (season) was particularly exciting because the expectations were somewhat low for us,” Hall said during an interview this summer about that magical fall. “I think the fans and the coaching staff probably didn’t expect what we were able to accomplish that year.”

Few knew it at the time, but Tennessee showed what kind of team it would become in the season opener, when they traveled to Syracuse to take on Donovan McNabb and the 17th-ranked Orangemen in the air condition-less Carrier Dome.

“Syracuse was really, really good,” Hall said. “You had, arguably, the greatest quarterback to ever play in the Big East in Donovan McNabb, and they had a number of guys who were great players. They were way too good for us to look past them.”

Tennessee led for most of the game, but Syracuse answered every time the Vols tried pulling away. With Tennessee ahead 31-27, Syracuse embarked on two scoring drives that ended in a pair of field goals to take a 33-31 lead with just under three minutes left in the game.

Tennessee’s final drive began at its own 17-yard line — with first-time starter Tee Martin directing it. The drive looked to have stalled at the Tennessee 33-yard line when Martin’s 4th-and-7 pass to Cedric Wilson was broken up. A pass interference call breathed new life into the Vols — and virtually sucked the life out of the Carrier Dome.

Martin quickly hit Peerless Price, Jamal Lewis followed with a big run. The Vols worked their way to the Syracuse 15-yard line. Just four seconds remained. That’s when Hall, a senior who still holds Tennessee’s career scoring record, nailed a 27-yard game winning field goal to complete the come-from-behind win on the road.

“To go into that environment, well out of the Southeast, and go up North and be able to come away with a win was so needed,” Hall said. “The first game is always important, but because it was Syracuse and because they had so many good players and was at their place, you can’t not have a lot of confidence going into the second game of the season, which was Florida.”

An impressive, tone-setting win, for sure. But there was one thing standing in the way of Tennessee going from good to great, and that was Steve Spurrier and the Florida Gators.

Tennessee hadn’t beaten Florida since 1992, though they had come close. In 1995, at Gainesville, Manning and Co. used an immaculate first half to take a commanding 30-14 lead before Florida stormed back, scoring 48 consecutive points to win 62-37 en route to an undefeated regular season. In 1996, Florida watched a 35-0 lead nearly slip away in a downpour, as Manning’s comeback attempt fell short in a 35-29 decision.

Even with all of the accolades Manning achieved, the one blemish on his record was his inability to beat Florida. Had they managed to beat them in 1995, it would have been Tennessee — not the Gators — playing Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl for a shot at a national title. In short, beating Florida mattered. That’s why there was plenty of hype surrounding yet another top-10 showdown between the two programs under the lights at Neyland Stadium on that mid-September night in 1998.

“We knew the history, we knew what it was,” Hall said. “It was not just another game because it was Florida and the winner of that game, typically, had been in the driver’s seat to get to the SEC Championship Game.”

The circumstances were no different. Florida was ranked No. 2 in the country, while Tennessee was up to No. 6. Much like the Syracuse game, neither team could find enough separation throughout the game.

Unlike previous meetings, offensive fireworks were few and far between. Tennessee took a 17-10 lead on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Martin to Price in the third quarter. Florida responded with a 70-yard strike from Jesse Palmer to Travis McGriff on 3rd-and-long.

For the first time in either school’s history, the game headed into overtime deadlocked at 17. Tennessee again wasn’t able to find the end zone in OT. It took a Martin scramble on third down just to get back into field goal range. For the second week in a row, the Vols’ fate rested on Hall’s right foot.

Hall’s no-doubt, 41-yard field goal gave Tennessee a 20-17 lead. Now, it was up to the Vols’ vaunted defense to win the game.

After Palmer misfired on first down, Wilson blitzed and hit Palmer, forcing another errant toss on second down. After Spurrier changed quarterbacks, Doug Johnson’s pass fell incomplete on third down.

Collins Cooper, who connected earlier from 21 yards, came onto the field with hopes of tying it.

“I had no idea what was about to happen,” Hall said. “After I made the field goal, I went to the sideline and relaxed. Cooper comes out and I’m thinking, ‘He’s going to make this kick and we’re going to into a second overtime.'”

Cooper’s 32-yard kick from the right hash mark sailed wide left. In the press box, the Vol Network’s play-by-play icon John Ward was making his now-famous call of “NO SIR-EE! … NO SIR-EE! Pandemonium reigns!”

Meanwhile, a collective sigh of relief filled the humid air along with the fireworks just across the Tennessee River. The goal posts came crashing down as a sea of orange and white covered the field where 5 years of frustration had just been lifted. As Ward said from his perch high above the chaos, pandemonium truly reigned.

“He (Cooper) was on the opposite hash away from us,” Hall said. “You couldn’t really see the flight of the ball. We were watching the fans, who began standing up and cheering and then you see the officials signal that it’s ‘no good.’ It happened so quickly that it was just surreal.”

Beating Florida was certainly a milestone, but it didn’t ease Tennessee’s path to the promised land. They needed a a goal-line stand to beat Auburn, a Clint Stoerner fumble in the waning minutes against Arkansas, and a second-half surge to beat Mississippi State in Atlanta to play and beat No. 2 Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl for the program’s sixth national title.

“As the season unfolded, we could just tell it was a special season,” Hall said. “We all cared about each other. We all knew we were accountable for our jobs. I’ve always said since then that ‘great teams always win close ball games.’ Considering the overtime win, the fourth-quarter win against Syracuse, and obviously the Arkansas game. It was a special year for a lot of reasons.”

NEXT: After the Arkansas miracle, Vols knew they were team of destiny

Jeff Hall cover photo courtesy of University of Tennessee Athletics.