1999 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
BCS National Championship Game 28th Fiesta Bowl
Sun Devil Stadium inTempe, Arizona, hosted the Fiesta Bowl.
Florida State Seminoles Tennessee Volunteers (11–1) (12–0) ACC SEC 16 23 Head coach:  Bobby Bowden Head coach:  Phillip Fulmer AP Coaches BCS 2 2 2 AP Coaches BCS 1 1 1
1 2 3 4 Total Florida State 0 9 0 7 16 Tennessee 0 14 0 9 23
Date	January 4, 1999
Season	1998
Stadium	Sun Devil Stadium
Location	Tempe, Arizona
MVP	Peerless Price,WR Dwayne Goodrich,CB
Favorite	Florida State by 5½
National anthem	Southwest Iowa and Mountain Pointe High School bands
Referee	Bill Richardson (Pac-10)
Attendance	80,470
United States TV coverage
Network	ABC
Announcers	Keith Jackson,Bob Griese
Fiesta Bowl  ←1997 (Dec) 2000 →  College football championship game  ←1998 (Bowl Alliance) 2000 →

The1999 Fiesta Bowl, the designatedBCS National Championship Game for the1998 season, was played on January 4, 1999, inTempe, Arizona atSun Devil Stadium. The teams were theTennessee Volunteers andFlorida State Seminoles. Tennessee entered the contest undefeated and number one in the major polls, while Florida State had won 10 straight games after a Week 2 loss toNC State. Florida State sophomore QBChris Weinke was injured in Florida State's final ACC game of the regular season and did not participate in the championship game. Ultimately, Tennessee won their sixth claimed national championship and first since 1967 by defeating the Seminoles, 23–16. The game was the first BCS National Championship.

After a scoreless first quarter, Tennessee'sQBTee Martin fired a 4-yard touchdown pass toFBShawn Bryson for the Vols to open up an early 7–0 lead. Bryson's TD came after the Vols took a Jeff Hall field goal off the board due to a roughing-the-kicker penalty. Shortly thereafter, Florida State had the ball near midfield. SeminolesQB Marcus Outzen threw an interception to VolCBDwayne Goodrich who was coveringWRPeter Warrick, and it was returned 54 yards for a touchdown; thus, Tennessee opened up a 14–0 lead. The two scores both occurred in the first 25 seconds of the second quarter. Goodrich's interception changed the complexion of the game and forced Florida State to play from behind.

Florida State did get on the board later in the second quarter with a 1-yard run by FB William McCray, butSebastian Janikowski missed an extra point off the crossbar, so the score stood at 14–6. At the end of the half, Janikowski drilled a 34-yard field goal, and the lead was cut to 14–9.

The second half saw a new challenge for the Vols, who were clinging to a narrow lead. Cornerback Dwayne Goodrich, who had the interception for a touchdown in the first half, was unable to play in the second half due to an ankle injury. He was replaced by Gerald Griffin, who had not seen much action that season. Griffin was assigned to cover Warrick, and did an adequate job, limiting Warrick to one catch for the game.

The Vol defense, as a unit, also held its own. Once again, both teams failed to score for an entire quarter. After the scoreless third quarter, the Vols got back on the scoreboard again. Tee Martin fired a 79-yard touchdown pass toPeerless Price, and the Vols claimed a 20–9 lead after a missed extra point byK Jeff Hall.

Later, Tennessee added a 23-yard field goal by Hall, and the lead extended to 23–9. But Florida State was not conceding the outcome yet. Seminole quarterback Marcus Outzen scrambled for a 7-yard touchdown, capping a Florida State drive, and the lead was cut to 23–16. With less than 2 minutes to go in the game, TennesseeRBTravis Henry fumbled and turned the ball over to Florida State.^[1] However, Outzen threw an errant pass that was intercepted byCB Steve Johnson, which sealed the victory and the national championship for the Vols.^[2]

• While Tennessee limitedPeter Warrick when the Seminoles were on offense, Warrick was still successful in the return game. One memorable play, however, saw Tennesseepunter David Leaverton make an open field tackle on Warrick. Had Warrick gotten past Leaverton, he would have most likely scored a touchdown. Instead, the Seminoles were held scoreless on the drive and ended up losing by seven points.
• Florida State contained the Vol passing attack except for two big plays. The first was a fade route fromTee Martin toPeerless Price that covered 76 yards and set up the Vols' first touchdown. The second was Price's 79-yard touchdown reception from Martin.
• Tennessee walk-on Tim Sewell had a blocked punt.^[3]
• Tennessee had 114 yards rushing, but leading carrierTravis Henry had only 28 yards rushing. The yards were spread out among Henry,Travis Stephens,Tee Martin, andShawn Bryson.
• Peerless Price's 199 yards receiving broke a Tennessee bowl record, held formerly byAnthony Hancock. Hancock had 196 yards in the 1981 Garden State Bowl.
• The Tennessee defense held Florida State to only 253 total yards on offense. However,WRRon Dugans had six catches for 135 yards to account for most of the total.
• Tennessee's seniors left the school with a 45–5 record after this game.
• This marked the final game for Tennessee's broadcastersJohn Ward and Bill Anderson, the longest-running broadcast partnership in college football.

• List of historically significant college football games

• 1998–99 NCAA football bowl games
• Fiesta Bowl
• Florida State Seminoles football bowl games
• Tennessee Volunteers football bowl games
• BCS National Championship Game
• 1999 in sports in Arizona
• January 1999 sports events in the United States

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from January 2019