Why Tennessee football feels like 1998 again after rout of LSU – with emphasis on ‘feels’

BATON ROUGE, La. – There’s going to be whispers of “it feels like 1998” around Tennessee football this week.

No Vols fan would dare said it louder than that.

They know better than to compare this season, or any season, to that magical national championship run. It’s simply unfair.

But the feel? Oh, it feels that way again.

Long after No. 8 Tennessee (5-0, 2-0 SEC) pummeled LSU 40-13 on Saturday, orange-and-white clad fans were piled up along the fences in the south end zone of Tiger Stadium.

It looked like a mosh pit of the best concert that you barely survived.

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And, smartly, stadium attendants relieved the pressure by sending Tennessee fans into the tunnel that led to the visiting locker room and press conference room. But they didn’t leave.

Instead, they shouted, “It’s great to be a Tennessee Vol!” and basked in a feeling elusive to them for far too long.It was deafening and left echoes that had no answer. After all, most LSU fans had exited an hour earlier, once they saw their Tigers (4-2, 2-1) were outmatched.

“It didn’t feel like we were on the road,” said wide receiver Jalin Hyatt, who had two touchdowns in the largest road victory for UT in its 97-year series against LSU.

Before dismissing the 1998 comparison, consider this

Tennessee can have a good football season without suffering unfair comparisons to 1998.

Most fans understand that, and they especially don’t want to dig up that tired trope before playing No. 1 Alabama next Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) at Neyland Stadium.

After all, this run could be derailed by Alabama, who hasn’t lost to Tennessee since Nick Saban first roamed its sideline.

But, first, take stock of these things while they’re here to savor.

The Vols are in the top 10 through five games for only the fifth win since that national title season, including 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002. That’s 20 years of mostly being on the outside looking in.

They have a 5-0 record for just the second time in 30 years. They did it in 1998 and 2016.

And they have beaten three AP Top 25 teams in their first five games for the first time since – you guessed it – 1998.That’s on the field. But that’s not what we’re talking about.

It's fun to watch Tennessee again, and that can't be overlooked

The Vols have a confidence, a swagger, a feeling they haven’t enjoyed in a long time.

Tennessee’s offense, statically, is the best in college football. When is the last time a Vols fan could say their team was the best at anything?

Tennessee has played well at Neyland Stadium, but it’s been even better on the road. That was showcased here in a runaway win over a stunned LSU squad in the feared Death Valley, where the Vols hadn’t won since 2005.

“Death Valley, you hear so much about it. It’s not an easy place to play in,” said running back Jabari Small, who rushed for 127 yards and two TDs. “But I’ve never been a part of something like this before, where a fan base shows up like this.”

This is an incomplete team with unmistakable flaws. Through five games, that should be the norm.

But it’s fun to watch Tennessee football again, and that can’t be overlooked.

UT quarterback Hendon Hooker, a Heisman Trophy candidate, summed up the sensation better than anyone without saying a word.

He walked into the postgame press conference wearing a T-shirt that celebrated Condredge Holloway, the play-making Tennessee quarterback from the 1970s nicknamed the “the Artful Dodger.”

Vols fans from that era often say watching Holloway play gave them the best feeling of their football lives. In some ways, that’s back.

These 2022 Vols aren’t the 1998 Vols. Full stop.

They also aren’t the 1989 SEC title team or the magical 1985 Sugar Bowl team or quarterback Peyton Manning’s ultra-talented 1997 team or any of Holloway’s entertaining 1970s teams.

But for an October afternoon, it feels like all of them. And that feeling, for now, is good enough.

Reach Adam Sparks at adam.sparks@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee-LSU football: Vols feel like 1998 – with emphasis on feels