NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Tennessee Vols will face Ohio State on Saturday in the College Football Playoff. This will be just the second time ever that these two storied programs have battled one other.
The first time was in the 1996 Citrus Bowl and the winning team helped elevate its program for the next decade.
"We end up in the Citrus Bowl against an Ohio State Team that frankly had been ranked second the whole year so we knew coming into that," said Brad Lampley, an offensive guard on the Vols team that year. "That was gonna be our chance to really stake a claim on the national scale and prove we were as good as any team in the country."
After Ohio State blocked a punt, the Buckeyes would strike first. Eddie George took in from 2 yards out and Ohio State led 7-0 in some terrible conditions
"It was a monsoon. It was pouring," George said laughing, remembering playing for the Buckeyes.
"It was just a miserable downpour all day. It was constantly raining and raining heavy and that's the way the whole game was," Lampley said.
Despite the conditions, the Buckeyes mounted another drive and on 4th and inches from the 2-yard line. However, the game turned for the Big Orange.
"They were already up 7-0 about to go up 14-0," Lampley said.
"It was isolation to the left. They made a great play. It was a great play," George said.
"That was just a major stop," Lampley said. "That play has taken on mythic proportions in college football lure. If they don't get the stop and they score right there, it's 14-0 in a downpour and that game takes on a totally different character so that stop was really everything."
Just before the half, the game takes another turn.
The teams go into halftime, tied at 7.
"That last touchdown by Jay Graham right before the half was massive so all of a sudden we go in at halftime thinking we really go a shot to win this thing and we can play with these guys," Lampley said.
"The attitude was we were going to find a way to win the ballgame," George said.
Peyton Manning would put the Vols ahead with a touchdown pass to Joey Kent. And Jeff Hall kicked two 4th quarter field goals as Tennessee got the win 20-14.
The victory had an impact on the program for years to come.
"That really set the tone for all the success from '96, '97, '98 all the way through," Lampley said. "That game was really a catalyst for so many big things that happened in the '90s."
After the game, Ohio State head coach John Cooper said that some of the Vols wore illegal cleats that were a quarter of an inch longer than allowed. That is still up for debate.
"I'll never say that that is the reason we lost," George said. "We didn't lose because of that. We lost because we didn't score enough points and we didn't execute the way we needed to and that's it."
Illegal cleats or not, let's hope that Saturday's matchup can produce another exciting game in the history of these two great programs.
