First I have heard about this or if I did hear about it I forgot about it long ago. Interesting read, but this paragraph made me laugh. Kind of ironic that an SEC coach would complain about a network lobbying for a player from a team that is covered by a network. 

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35181627/peyton-manning...

"I haven't paid attention to [the Heisman] or really cared about it since that night in New York City," then-Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer told ESPN this fall. "It's nothing against [Woodson], either. He was a great player. But as you look back, there were all kinds of dynamics that went into it. ABC and ESPN weren't carrying the SEC back then. They were carrying the Big Ten.