1999 Fiesta Bowl Totally Explained

Everything about 1999 Fiesta Bowl totally explained

The 1999 Fiesta Bowl, the designated BCS National Championship Game, was played on January 4, 1999 in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium. The teams were the Tennessee Volunteers and Florida State Seminoles. The 1998 Tennessee Volunteers football team won the football program's fourth National Championship after a gap of forty-seven years by beating the Seminoles by a score of 23-16. The Seminoles rebounded to win the National Championship the next year.

Game Summary

First Half

After a scoreless first quarter, Tennessee's QB Tee Martin fired a 4 yard touchdown pass to FB Shawn Bryson, for the Vols to open up an early 7-0 lead. Bryson's TD came after the Vols took a Jeff Hall field goal off the board due to a roughing-the-kicker penalty. Shortly thereafter, Florida State had the ball near midfield. Seminole QB Marcus Outzen threw an interception to Vol CB Dwayne Goodrich who was covering WR Peter Warrick, and it was returned 54 yards for a touchdown, and Tennessee opened up a 14-0 lead. The two scores both occurred in the first 25 seconds of the second quarter. Goodrich's interception changed the complexion of the game and forced Florida State to play from behind.
Florida State did get on the board later in the second quarter with a 1 yard run by FB William McCray, but Sebastian Janikowski missed an extra point, so the score stood at 14-6. At the end of the half, Janikowski drilled a 34 yard field goal, and the lead was cut to 14-9.

Second Half

The second half saw a new challenge for the Vols, who were clinging to a narrow lead. Corner Dwayne Goodrich, who had the interception for a touchdown in the first half, was unable to play in the second half due to an ankle injury. He was replaced by Gerald Griffin, who hadn't seen much action that season. Griffin was assigned to cover Warrick, and did an adequate job, limiting Warrick to one catch for the game.
The Vol defense as a unit also held its own. Once again both team failed to score for an entire quarter. After the scoreless third quarter, the Vols got back on the scoreboard again. Tee Martin fired a 78 yard touchdown pass to Peerless Price, and the Vols reclaimed a 20-9 lead, after a missed extra point by K Jeff Hall.
Later, Tennessee added a 23 yard field goal by Hall, and the lead extended to 23-9. But Florida State wasn't conceding the outcome yet. Seminole quarterback Marcus Outzen scrambled for a 7 yard touchdown, capping a Florida State drive, and the lead was cut to 23-16. With under 2 minutes to go in the game, Tennessee RB Travis Henry fumbled and turned the ball over to Florida State. However Florida State was intercepted by CB Steve Johnson, and the Vols ended with a victory.

Scoring Summary

Scoring Play	Score
1st Quarter
No Scoring
2nd Quarter
UT - Shawn Bryson 4 yard pass from Tee Martin (Jeff Hall kick).	UT 7-0
UT - Dwayne Goodrich 54 yard interception return (Hall kick).	UT 14-0
FSU - William McGray 1 yard run (Kick failed).	UT 14-6
FSU - Sebastian Janikowski 34 yard field goal.	UT 14-9
3rd Quarter
No Scoring
4th Quarter
UT - Peerless Price 79 yard pass from Martin (Kick failed).	UT 20-9
UT - Hall 23 yard field goal.	UT 23-9
FSU - Marcus Outzen 7 yard run (Janikowski kick).	UT 23-16

Highlights

While Tennessee limited Peter Warrick while the Seminoles were on offense, Warrick was still successful in the return game. One memorable play, however, saw Tennessee punter David Leaverton make an open field tackle on Warrick. Had Warrick gotten past Leaverton, he'd have most likely scored a touchdown. Instead, The Seminoles were held scoreless on the drive, and ended up losing by seven points, the same number saved by the tackle.

Florida State contained the Vol passing attack except for two big plays. The first was Peerless Price's 79 yard touchdown reception from Tee Martin. The other was also another fade route from Martin to Price that covered 76 yards and set up another Vol score.

Tennessee walk-on Tim Sewell had a blocked punt.

Tennessee had 114 yards rushing, but leading carrier Travis Henry had only 28 yards rushing. The yards were spread out among Henry, Travis Stephens, Tee Martin, and Shawn Bryson.

Peerless Price's 199 yards receiving broke a Tennessee bowl record, held formerly by Anthony Hancock. Hancock had 196 yards in the 1981 Garden State Bowl.

The Tennessee defense held Florida State to only 253 total yards on offense. However, WR Ron Dugans had six catches for 135 yards to account for most of the total.

The win was the first ever for an SEC team in the Fiesta Bowl.

Tennessee's seniors left the school with a 45-5 record after this game.

Sources

UTSports.com recap

Sports Illustrated Recap

CNNSI.com Recap

1999 Tennessee Volunteers Football Media Guide
Further Information

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