Peyton Manning is aware of 'the curse' that allegedly follows him to Tennessee games
I don't know what the record is in Tennessee Vols football games attended by Peyton Manning — there's no way to know exactly which games he has and hasn't been to — but there's a narrative that his presence at a game is a bad sign for UT. That's because it seems like every time […]
I don't know what the record is in Tennessee Vols football games attended by Peyton Manning — there's no way to know exactly which games he has and hasn't been to — but there's a narrative that his presence at a game is a bad sign for UT.
That's because it seems like every time Peyton is at a game, the Vols lose.
Whether it's the Georgia game in 2017 or even the NCAA Super Regional for the Tennessee baseball team earlier this year, it's usually been a loss for UT at the games Peyton attends.
There obviously isn't a curse. Those don't exist.
The truth is that Manning just usually attends big games. And the Vols haven't been very good over the last 10 years, so they've lost a lot of those big games (one outlier is the Georgia State game that Peyton was at in 2018, a game the Vols lost that they should've won).
Peyton is aware that fans think he's bad luck. That's why during an interview with Sports Illustrated ahead of the Alabama game, Peyton asked the author, Ross Dellenger, to not reveal that he would be at the Bama game this weekend.
But once Peyton was announced as the guest picker for College GameDay, it made keeping that secret impossible.
There isn't a better ambassador for Tennessee football than Peyton. Fans should be happy that Manning still passionately supports his alma mater.
And he wants the Vols to get back to their winning ways as much as anyone.
“Our baseball team is kicking butt, and [coach] Rick Barnes in basketball is kicking butt,” said Manning to Sports Illustrated recently. “It’s time for football to kick butt, too.”
Maybe Tennessee wins on Saturday. Or maybe they suffer their 16th straight loss in this rivalry.
Whatever happens, it won't be because Peyton Manning is at the game. After all, he's just a fan these days. Albeit a very rich and influential fan.
Featured image via Michael Patrick/News Sentinel
