KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – “Hey!” roared the fan in the orange golf shirt, standing over the hunched remains of Neyland Stadium’s south goalposts. ‘We’re going to do this every two years [expletive]!”
Once again, Tennessee defeated Alabama in Neyland. Once again, frenzied Vol fans stormed the field, tearing up the turf and pulling down the goalposts. There is hope again in Knoxville. And for the first time in a decade and a half, there are serious questions in Tuscaloosa.
“What a night at Rocky Top,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said after the game, his voice hoarse from cigar smoke. “This is definitely as good of college football as it gets. I love our fans. They stuck with us tonight for much of the game. A great day to wear orange.”
Halloween was early Saturday afternoon in Neyland. A horde of sloppy, undisciplined football players spent the first half of Saturday’s Alabama-Tennessee game dressed as the nation’s former No. 1 and No. 4 teams. However, the real deals came for the second half and the result was a 24-17 victory by the No. 11 Volunteers.
Tennessee has cleared another hurdle in its quest for a playoff berth and a possible SEC championship berth. Alabama, which has suffered two losses, faces a much more uncertain path in a crowded playoff field.
No. No. 7 Alabama had a chance to take the lead with two minutes left to tie 21-17, but receiver Kendrick Law was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for pushing UT defensive back Arion Carter. Carter had gotten in Law’s face—and retaliated with a punch that Law barely seemed to miss—but Law was the only player flagged.
That forced Alabama into a fourth down with 22 yards to go. Head coach Kalen DeBoer opted to go for it instead of kicking it away with all three timeouts, and Jalen Milroe’s completion to Judge Haynes was well short of the first down.
The Crimson Tide prevented the Vols from getting a first down and forced the Vols to make a field goal and extend the lead to seven. Alabama had one more shot to get a touchdown, and that opportunity lasted the entire game when Milroe threw an interception to safety Will Brooks on Alabama’s first play.
Before Alabama’s two failed comeback drives, Tennessee took the lead for good with 5:52 to go when quarterback Nico Iamaleava found Chris Brazzell II for a fantastic 16-yard touchdown.
Struggle diluted the showdown hype
Two weeks ago, this game looked like it would be one of the legendary throwdowns of the season, with Alabama at No. 1 and Tennessee at No. 4. But both teams have struggled since then with defeat and an unremarkable rebounding performance. so both came into the game with their SEC Championship hopes dented and their auras darkened considerably.
The first half did little to improve the perception of either team as overrated and/or unreliable. Both quarterbacks lacked accuracy, both lines committed penalty after penalty, both offenses sputtered, both kickers missed field goals with ugly efforts, both porous defenses gave up huge chunks of plays.
Playing under beautiful blue skies and in front of a huge orange crowd, Tennessee couldn’t produce anything close to competency on offense. Iamaleava, a redshirt freshman, is still a long way from his early-season excellence, spending much of the first half sailing well above the heads or out of reach of his receivers.
Tennessee’s offense in the first half was an ugly parade of failures: fumble, punt, missed field goal, interception, interception, missed field goal. A promising first drive ended with Dylan Sampson coughing up the ball at the Alabama 20. Iamaleava briefly left the game with an injury, and his replacement, Gaston Moore, immediately threw an interception right into the hands of Alabama’s Malachi Moore. Iamaleava’s return briefly boosted Tennessee’s offense until he threw a terrible interception on a botched play deep in the red zone.
The only reason Tennessee was tied in the game at the end of the first half was because Alabama’s offense was only marginally more competent. Milroe continued to tumble from the heights he reached in the first half against Georgia, with his attempts starting late and his passes falling off target. The low point came late in the first quarter when, deep in Tennessee territory, he threw an interception in the end zone that hit Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy in the singles.
Alabama managed to get the ball into the end zone itself on the next drive, with Milroe Ryan (He’s Only 17) finding Williams for a 5-yard touchdown pass on the only drive of the first half in which Alabama looked locked in. After the Tide missed a late field goal attempt of its own, the first half ended like this. Alabama 7, Tennessee 0, total turnovers 4, total missed field goals 3.
The Vols opened the second half with another bout of Iamaleava overthrows and misfires, though at least one — a deep pass at the Alabama 15 to Squirrel White — appeared at least catchable. Alabama responded by running eight straight rushes and staying out at midfield. So whatever halftime adjustments DeBoer and Heupel made didn’t have an immediate effect.
Volunteers find out after a rough first half
On its second possession of the second half, Tennessee discovered something. Sampson broke off a 36-yard run, then Iamaleava scrambled another 27 yards to the edge of the end zone. Sampson capped the drive with a 2-yard run that tied the game with 6:32 left in the third quarter.
Alabama drove all the way to the Tennessee 14 on the next series, but two consecutive Milroe overthrows in the end zone forced the Tide to settle for a go-ahead field goal to make the game 10–7.
And then, with just over a minute left in the third quarter, Iamaleava finally looked like the bomber of the early season. He found a deep target in Dont’e Thornton Jr., who hauled in a spectacular 55-yard pass all the way to the Alabama 3. One play later, Sampson rumbled in for his second touchdown of the game, and Tennessee had its first lead of the game. game.
It wouldn’t last. Alabama also found its feet — and arm — and executed a nearly flawless six-play, 75-yard drive in just over two minutes to regain the lead at 17-14. Germie Bernard caught the biggest pass of the drive, a 28-yarder that put Alabama in Tennessee’s red zone again. And this time, Alabama didn’t risk a pass; Judge Haynes rumbled into the end zone virtually untouched from seven yards out.
Crushing penalties halted Tennessee’s next drive, but the Volunteers’ punt team managed to pin Alabama at its own 4. Milroe narrowly deflected a sack that would have been a safety, and Alabama punted the ball back to Tennessee at midfield.
Once again Iamaleava found his mark and put a pass straight into the hands of a diving Brazzell for a go-ahead signal. Alabama’s last-ditch effort ended quickly when Milroe threw his second interception of the game.
Milroe finished the day 25 of 45 for 239 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Williams and Bernard both gained 70 yards, but Milroe was too often erratic and ineffective in both halves.
Iamaleava, on the other hand, settled down and found a winning rhythm in the second half. He finished 14 of 27 for 194 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Sampson had 136 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns.
Then a somber DeBoer tried to find positives in the Tide’s second loss in three weeks. There weren’t many to be found on the field, so he resorted to pointing to the calendar.
“There’s still a lot of season left, not just for us but for everyone,” DeBoer said, “and it’s going to go quickly if we don’t take advantage of it because that urgency has to be there.”
Vols fans are rejoicing in another wild scene at Neyland Stadium
As the clock wound down to zero, Vol fans once again poured over the low brick walls surrounding the pitch, ignoring public pleas to remain in their seats. Some puffed on cigars, some hugged, and all sang along as “Dixieland Delight” blasted through the speakers. A few hardy souls managed to pick up chunks of the checkerboard grass that had just been installed after a recent Morgan Wallen concert.
The goalposts came down again, but this time Tennessee’s safety was ready. This time they didn’t leave the stadium or end up in the river. This victory in itself was not expected, but neither did it justify the joy of 2022. That victory ended a 15-match losing streak; this one simply broke a one-match losing streak.
Beating Alabama is no longer the ultimate seasonal goal for Tennessee; now it’s one step up the ladder. The Vols have much higher goals this time around, and this crucial conference win gives Tennessee the opportunity to host a playoff game, or perhaps even earn a first-round bye with a conference championship. With the way the Vols played on Saturday night – and not so much on Saturday afternoon – it’s possible to start dreaming bigger dreams.
“We have a chance to be a really good team,” Heupel said. “There are some things we need to continue to improve, but there is nothing better than standing in Neyland Stadium listening with 102,000 people. Go Big Orange!”
At least Alabama is still a notable opponent for Tennessee to warrant a field storm. Yes, the Tide are in a world of hurt now, but if a win over Alabama doesn’t warrant a delirious stomp on the turf, we’ll know the last vestiges of the Nick Saban era are gone.
