If you ask most Tennessee Vols fans about the biggest injustice in program history, many would likely point to legendary UT quarterback Peyton Manning’s runner-up finish in the 1997 Heisman Trophy race.

To this day, there are a lot of folks who still can’t believe that Manning lost the award to Michigan Wolverines defensive back Charles Woodson.

Former Vols offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, who served as the offensive coordinator for all four of Peyton’s seasons at Tennessee, is one of the folks who is still in disbelief nearly 30 years later that Peyton didn’t win the Heisman Trophy.

Cutcliffe joined The George Plaster Show last week and he shared some thoughts on Peyton coming up short in the voting.

“It hurt me when Peyton didn’t win it, and it still bothers me,” said Cutcliffe.

Cutcliffe went on to explain that he believes Peyton didn’t win the award because it was “too obvious”.

“The reason it happened (Peyton finishing second), in my humble opinion, because I was obviously a part of watching this happen — it was too obvious from the very beginning,” said Cutcliffe. “They gave it to him in the summer before we started playing his senior year, you know, when he decided to come back (for one more season at UT).

“All the predicting was after our Kentucky game. And if you look at his statistics in that game, they were outstanding. So he did nothing to lose it. It was just too obvious to the media. And they didn’t like [that] in that era, particularly, as we weren’t quite [in the] social media [era]. It was just a funny thing. They didn’t want it to be that easy to predict.”

Maybe Cutcliffe is right. But even if he is, it won’t change the outcome of the 1997 Heisman Trophy race. Unfortunately for Peyton, that’s an honor he deserved, but it slipped away.

What Peyton Manning said earlier this year about the 1997 Heisman Trophy race

Peyton sat down with PFF’s Cris Collinsworth earlier this year and he shared some candid thoughts about the 1997 Heisman Trophy ceremony.

“I was up for the Heisman Trophy and Charles Woodson won it, an incredible player,” said Manning during an interview with Pro Football Focus and Collinsworth. “But I guess it wasn’t the best experience in New York — being up there and having a camera on your face and it’s sort of this live reality TV show kind of filming your disappointment.

“And the reason I was disappointed, I really wanted to win it for the University of Tennessee. They’ve never had one. Tennessee’s had four runner-up finishes. Never won one, so that was kind of my disappointment.”

Manning’s uncomfortable experience at the Heisman ceremony in 1997 led to him telling Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian that the franchise needed to select him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft.

“I went and visited them (the Colts) for a little health combine recheck about three weeks before the draft,” said Manning. “I just kind of said, ‘Hey, listen, I want to come here. I really think there’s a good thing going here, but I’m just not into playing a lot of games.

“And I’m not going up to New York again and having this sort of a-ha gotcha moment and y’all take somebody else. If you’re not going to take me, I’d just like to know that in advance’. I said, ‘If you do take me, I promise you we’ll win. If you don’t take me, I will kick your ass for the next 15 years’. It was just kind of how I felt at the time. And supposedly, that’s when Bill Polian said, ‘I think we’re going to take him’. That’s what kind of convinced him that this is our guy. I didn’t plan that. It wasn’t scripted. But I guess they liked that sort of bold statement and maybe that’s why they drafted me.”

Things worked out just fine for Peyton — he won two Super Bowls while enjoying a Hall of Fame career. But the 1997 Heisman Trophy is the one honor that he was never able to capture during his illustrious playing career.

Tennessee Volunteers News

‘I will kick your ass for the next 15 years’ – Peyton Manning once gave an NFL GM a legendary warning

Tennessee Vols legend Peyton Manning was a bit miffed after he traveled to New York in 1997 just to finish as the runner-up to Michigan’s Charles Woodson for the Heisman Trophy. It wasn’t that Peyton thought Woodson was undeserving of the award — it was that dealing with the cameras and the media, only to […]

Zach Ragan