Clint Stoerner 98 Arkansas
"Why are these two plays going against each other in round one rabblerabblerabble?" Well, we're not real sure what to do with this one in a Best Plays Bracket. It is unquestionably one of the most iconic moments in the history of Tennessee Football. It is one of the most important moments of the BCS era. But in this crowded field, just how great of a play is this? Outsiders are going to say this is a play where a guy falls down, and that may technically be the case. We call the play "Clint Stoerner 98" because that's how we all identify it, but this is also "Tennessee Defensive Line 98" - surging the interior line back, putting a foot where it's not supposed to be, perfectly placed for Stoerner to trip on it and leave the ball and our hopes on the ground, right there for Billy Ratliff to pounce on it. In our year of years, this is the best example of Tennessee simply finding a way to win.
Dwayne Goodrich 98 Florida State
Speaking of finding a way to win...having just broken a scoreless tie in the National Championship Game, Florida State decided to force the ball to Peter Warrick, and Dwayne Goodrich made them pay. This is so clean and such a thing of beauty - watch through the commercial break and after the kickoff for the replay where Al Wilson runs by Warrick and taunts him during the return. It was 14-0 Vols and all of us were thinking blowout at this point. We needed every touchdown we got in the end, but so much of what went right for the Vols in Tempe was on the shoulders of Goodrich and Steve Johnson, who absolutely shut down Warrick all night long.
We'll be back next week with the quarterfinals...