5. SEC, 1997: Tennessee 30, Auburn 29—Peyton Manning’s final game against an SEC opponent was quite a battle. Their opponent, the 9–2 Tigers, had plenty of trouble moving the ball on the ground (negative 15 yards rushing for the game) while quarterback Dameyune Craig completed just 14 of 34 passes through the air. But the Volunteers turned the ball over six times on the game to Auburn’s one.
Thanks to the Tennessee miscues, Terry Bowden’s team held a 20–7 lead before team Manning got untracked. The future NFL star threw three second-half touchdown passes—including a 73-yarder in the fourth quarter—to lead the Volunteers to a 30–29 comeback win.
In all, Tennessee’s 502–247 advantage in total yards (Jamal Lewis had 127 rushing yards) was just enough of an advantage to overcome the negative-five turnover discrepancy.
4. Big 12, Kansas State 35, Oklahoma 7—The Sooners entered this contest with a 12–0 record, a number one ranking, and looked nearly invincible. Bob Stoops’ squad was averaging 48.3 points per game coming into the game, but Stoops’ defensive coordinator, and brother, Mike had just accepted a job to coach Arizona, possibly splitting his focus for the conference title game which seemed a formality at the time.
Kansas State came in with a 10–3 record, but had few believers following a team that had earlier lost to Marshall.
