The 1999 Fiesta Bowl, the designated BCS National Championship Game for the 1998 season, was played on January 4, 1999, in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium. The teams were the Tennessee Volunteers and Florida State Seminoles. Tennessee entered the contest undefeated and number one in the major polls. Florida State sophomore QB Chris 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 National Championship after a gap of forty-seven years by beating the Seminoles by a score of 23–16. The game was the first BCS National Championship.

After a scoreless first quarter, Tennessee's QB Tee Martin fired a 4-yard touchdown pass to FB Shawn 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. Seminoles QB Marcus Outzen threw an interception to Vol CB Dwayne Goodrich who was covering WR Peter 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, but Sebastian 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.

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