Tribute To Peyton Manning

1997 - Games/Started: 12/12 … Elected co-captain along with Leonard Little for the 1997 season … Named winner of National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete Award … Selected Phi Beta Kappa … Earned Citation for Extraordinary Campus Leadership and Service from the Chancellor in 1997 … Graduated with a 3.61 GPA in speech communication and minor in business, and is now a graduate student in sport management … Named to AFCA and SEC Good Works Team … FWAA and Football News All-America ... Football News Offensive and SEC Player of the Year … Carries a career record of 39-5 as a starter … SEC’s all-time leading passer.

Peyton Manning Records Stand Alone Peyton Manning 1997

Records Held by Peyton Manning

42 Records:
2 NCAA Record
7 SEC Records
33 Tennessee Records
NCAA RECORDS - 2
 
Season
Lowest Interception Percentage 
(1.05%; 4 of 380 attempts in 1995)

Career
Lowest Interception Percentage 
(2.39%; 33 of 1381 attempts in 1994-Present)

SEC RECORDS - 7


Career
Passing Yards (11,201)
Completions (863)
Total Offense (11,020)
Completion Percentage 
(62.49%; 863 of 1381 from 1994-Present)
Lowest Interception Percentage 
(2.39%; 33 of 1381 from 1994-Present)
Most 300-yard passing games (18)


Season
Lowest Interception Percentage 
(1.05%; 4 of 380 in 1995)

TENNESSEE RECORDS - 33
Career (16)
Most TD passes (89)
Most TDs responsible for 
(101 - 89 passing, 12 rushing)
Most 500-yard passing games (1)
Most 400-yard passing games (3)
Most 300-yard passing games (18)
Most 200-yard passing games (30)
Consecutive 300-yard passing games (7)
Most Passing yards (11,201)
Most Pass Attempts (1381)
Most Pass Completions (863)
Highest Completion Pct. (62.49)

Lowest Interception Pct. (2.39)
Most Total Offense yards (11,020)
Most Total Offense plays (1534)
Total Off. Yards per game (250.5 - 44 for 11,020)
Most Yards per play (7.18 - 1534 for 11,020)


Season (10)
Most Passing Yards (3819 in 1997)
Most Passing Touchdowns (36 in 1997)
Most Pass Attempts (477 in 1997)
Most Pass Completions (287 in 1997)
Highest Comp. Pct. (min. 300 att.) (64.2 in 1995)
Lowest Interception Pct. (1.05 in 1995; 4 of 380)
Consecutive Passes without an Interception  (132)
Most 300-yard passing games (9 in 1997)
Most Total Offense Yards (3789 in 1997)
Most Total Offense Plays (538 in 1997)

Game (7)
Most TD Passes (5 vs. Texas Tech, Kentucky, 1997)
Most Passing Yards (523 vs. Kentucky, 1997)
Most Pass Attempts (65 vs. Florida, 1996)
Most Pass Completions (37 vs. Florida, 1996)
Most Total Offense Plays  (70 vs. Florida, 1996)
Most Total Offense Yards (508 vs. Kentucky, 1997)
Consec. Pass Comps. (12 vs. Kentucky, 1997)

Phil Fulmer & Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe

Peyton Manning Pass

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Peyton Manning may have been forgotten by some Heisman Trophy voters, but future Tennessee football players will remember him every time they walk to Neyland Stadium. Yale Avenue, a block-long, two-lane street that fans line by the hundreds to cheer players as they walk to the stadium on game days, is getting a new name. Peyton Manning Pass.

Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe said Wednesday city engineers initially balked at the idea - nothing against Manning, but the city has never allowed anything but roads, avenues, streets and boulevards. Even if Manning has thrown plenty of them, there are no passes. "I said, 'Well, let's just suspend the rules for this occasion,'" Ashe said. "I think we can get it through the City Council."

It's the first time a street on the University of Tennessee campus has been named for a student-athlete. Steve Moore, a UT architecture grad who called City Hall to recommend naming the street a "pass" instead of a "drive," said he was "real disappointed, real disgusted" with the Heisman vote. "Probably just like every other Southerner or UT fan."

In Nashville, Gov. Don Sundquist and House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh signed a petition protesting the Heisman selection process. "The flawed voting process and the regional bias surrounding this year's Heisman award has forever tarnished the trophy in our eyes," the petition says. Sundquist, who is chairman of the UT Board of Trustees, and Naifeh, a Tennessee graduate, are Volunteer fans.

Manning's record stands alone in SEC

Manning is the all-time winningest SEC quarterback with a record of 39-5.

''He's raised everybody's play around him to another level because of his competitive spirit, ability and leadership,'' Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said. ''He's been a difference maker for a number of years.

''That kind of accomplishment says a lot for the program as well as the player. You had a great player that fit a really good system. He took the system and used it as well as it's ever been used.''

Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning. (AP Photo)

Woodson edges Manning for Heisman

Peyton Manning, who threw for 3,819 yards, 36 touchdowns and led the third-ranked Vols (11-1) to the Southeastern Conference title and an Orange Bowl, placed second to Charles Woodson in Heisman voting.

In perhaps the biggest surprise in the 63-year history of the Heisman, Woodson won by a comfortable margin over Manning, who had become the preseason favorite when he announced last spring he was returning for his senior season as quarterback at Tennessee.

ROCK THE VOTE
The first place, second, third and total votes for the top 10 finishers in the Heisman Trophy balloting:
Player	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
C. Woodson	433	209	98	1,815
P. Manning	281	263	174	1,543
R. Leaf	70	205	241	861
R. Moss	17	56	90	253
R. Williams	4	31	61	135
C. Enis	3	18	20	65
T. Dwight	5	3	11	32
C. McNown	0	7	12	26
T. Couch	0	5	12	22
A. Zereoue	3	1	10	21

"This will be with me the rest of my life," the 6-foot-1, 198-pound Woodson said. "I was sitting in that chair and saying to myself, `Do I really have a shot?' I kept thinking about the Rocket Ismail-Ty Detmer year (1990) and how everybody thought the Rocket was going to win it, but they opened the envelope and Ty Detmer got it."

Manning said he was disappointed mainly for Volunteers fans. "I'd be less then honest if I said I didn't want to win it for them," he said.

"I didn't know what to expect. I was excited just to be here as a candidate. I really had a lot of fun this year. I have one game left and I'm going to cherish it and cherish the days leading up to it."

While Manning threw for 3,819 yards, 36 touchdowns and led the third-ranked Vols (11-1) to the Southeastern Conference title and an Orange Bowl, the Heisman voters chose Woodson, who went from sublime to sensational whenever Michigan was on national TV.

Manning, the All-American son of former Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning, set 39 SEC or school records in leading the Vols to their first SEC title since the league split its divisions in 1991. But another loss to Florida -- 33-20 on Sept. 20 -- may have cost him Heisman votes just as it did last year, when he threw four interceptions in a 35-29 defeat and Wuerffel went on to win the trophy.

This year, it was Woodson's turn. The former Mr. Ohio Football -- he is Ross High School's all-time leading rusher with 3,861 yards -- had seven interceptions, caught 11 passes for 231 yards and two TDs and scored on a 33-yard reverse and his punt return.

Woodson became the third Michigan player to win the Heisman, Desmond Howard winning in 1991 and Tom Harmon in 1940.

Southern Boy Wrongly Denied the Heisman
Peyton broke 42 records

Regardless of the letters to The Jackson Sun, I must agree with people who know more about football than I or the letter writers. Lou Holtz, Bob Griese, Brent Musburger, Terry Bradshaw and Scott Frost said that University of Tennessee's Peyton Manning should have won the Heisman Trophy.

Statistics show that even though he intercepted a pass in the Rose Bowl, University of Michigan's Charles Woodson was not the best defensive player, nor is he the best receiver on his team. Woodson is a good punt returner but not one of the country's best.

Griese voted for Manning and stated he was the greatest college quarterback in the past 15 years. Bradshaw said it was a disgrace the way the media took the Heisman from Manning. Holtz said Heisman voters in other parts of the country were voting against Manning, not for Woodson.

So why the backlash, and why was the trophy denied to Manning? Sorry, but the truth is the truth. It is because Manning is from the South and plays in the Southeastern Conference that he was denied the Heisman. In the 63-year history of the Heisman, only eight players from the SEC have won it. No player from the great Alabama teams ever came close.

ESPN and ABC searched in vain to find someone to promote more than Manning. They found him when Woodson made a great play on TV against Ohio State University. The voters and the media were not going to allow the trophy to go to a Southern boy two years in a row. They chose a player from Michigan who made three or four big plays over a quarterback from Tennessee who had one of the greatest seasons and greatest careers in college football history.

We have a society that makes heroes out of male athletes who wear dresses, abuse women and who get paid millions. But a young man who lives with both parents and has good character just is not cool. Manning is too old-fashioned and not hip enough. The media and voters decided not to let the nice Southern boy win the Heisman.

Gov. Don Sundquist was right when he said the Heisman has been diminished. In fact, the Southern voters should boycott the whole thing next year.

How did the two great Nebraska players Frost and Ahman Green not even finish in the top 10?

Will the media turn on Tim Couch and Jamal Lewis when they become Heisman candidates?

This letter was written and printed in
The Jackson Sun News Paper Jan 9, 1998.
Submitted by: John Bennett Wood
Lexington, Tenn

Peyton Manning, Tennessee


MANNING'S SEASON TOTALS
Passing
COMP.	ATT.	YDS.	TD	INT.
287	477	3,819	36	11

CHRIS FOWLER'S ANALYSIS
The expectations were always impossibly high, but Manning exceeded them. He finally won the first championship of his life last Saturday. The model for a college football player.

The state of Tennessee has produced more than its share of folk heroes, from Davy Crockett to Elvis. But probably none is more near and dear to Tennesseans than Peyton Williams Manning.

Sure, he throws pinpoint passes, masterfully audibles new plays to befuddle defenses, works constantly on his craft and conditioning, and executes one of college football's most complex offenses to near-perfection. Beyond that, Manning leads in the classic sense of the verb -- by example.

Those qualities made him the probable No. 1 pick of the 1997 NFL draft. But Manning valued college over cash and stayed put (even though he already had his diploma, which he earned in only three years). Many pundits claimed that last March's decision won him the Heisman, and such a reward would be justified.

But Manning went out and earned the trophy in the fall, taking his team to a Top-5 ranking and the SEC title, and becoming the conference's all-time leading passer along the way. And every week, every game, every pass was accompanied by the kind of pressure and scrutiny usually reserved for politicians.

Whenever he's asked about the Heisman, which is almost daily, Manning's response is consistent and clear: He's not worried about individual awards, only team victories. That in itself should win him the trophy.

Johnny Unitas Award

Wed. Nov 26, 1997

Manning Receives Unitas Award - Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning was selected Wednesday as winner of the 1997 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

The award, which is given to the top senior quarterback in the nation, was won last season by Florida's Danny Wuerffel, who later captured the Heisman Trophy. Manning will know if he duplicated Wuerffel's feat when the Heisman is announced on December 13th.

Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Winners

The following is a list of the winners of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, presented annually to the nation's top senior quarterback:

1997 - Peyton Manning, Tennessee
1996 - Danny Wuerffel, Florida
1995 - Tommie Frazier, Nebraska
1994 - Jay Barker, Alabama
1993 - Charlie Ward, Florida St
1992 - Gino Torretta, Miami Fla
1991 - Casey Welsdon, Florida St
1990 - Craig Erickson, Miami Fla
1989 - Tony Rice, Notre Dame
1988 - Rodney Peete, USC
1987 - Don McPherson, Syracuse

Vols fall to the Cornhuskers in Orange Bowl
All-American quarterback Peyton Manning played his final game as a Volunteer as second-ranked Nebraska scored a 42-17 victory over number three Tennessee in the Orange Bowl at Miami, Florida.

Sad Ending for Vols, Manning

Scripps Howard News Service

MIAMI (Scripps Howard News Service 01-03-1998 10:57 EDT) -- No. 2 Nebraska hammered No. 3 Tennessee at the FedEx Orange Bowl Friday night, 42-17.

Oh, I could tell you that this was still a wonderful step for Tennessee, that Tennessee needed to have the experience of playing in a game like this, that the very best teams always seem to knock on the door once or twice before they bust it down.

Tennessee still has plenty to be proud of this year. There are worse things than finishing a season in the top-flight alliance game. There are worse things than being one of three teams standing at the end.

This was Peyton Manning last game to wear
the Orange and White Jan 2, 1998

Peyton Receives Sullivan Award

Peyton Manning breaks 20 year record

Manning wins first 2004 NFL Offensive Player of the Year award

Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning win Super Bowl XLI

White No. 5, Manning No. 12 on USA Today's Top 25 NFL Players

One Hundred And Sixty Kids Name After Peyton

Great Site on Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning Tennessee Sophomore - By Liburd - Rated:
Peyton Manning Tribute Video - By Joeguy02 - Rated: