by Roy Exum
posted October 25, 2009
 Roy Exum |
Alabama’s 12-10 victory over Tennessee yesterday was indeed another classic; it kept the top-ranked Crimson Tide perfect at 8-0, but, lordy, it filled the Big Orange Nation with such exciting promise of what is yet to come in “The Kiffin Era” that both camps were inspired at the end of the Tuscaloosa thriller.
This morning there are over 15,000 “Fans of Terrence Cody” on Facebook, this after the 354-pound All-American, aptly called “Mount Cody,” knocked down the second of two blocked punts to preserve the Alabama win with just 0:04 on the clock.
Nick Saban, the ‘Bama mastermind, summed it up best: ``You talk about how fragile a season is. You're controlling a game, even though you may say it's winning ugly. We're still ahead 12-3 and totally controlling the game with 3 minutes, 29 seconds and the ball.”
But that’s when Alabama runner Mark Ingram was creamed by UT’s All-American Eric Berry. Ingram fumbled for the very first time in 322 touches, the sensational Berry pounced on the recovery and Tennessee played the rest of the way with the fire that was once inspired by General Neyland.
“That's how fragile a season can be,” explained Saban. “You make one mistake and you have to go overcome it. I hope that there's a lot of lessons our team can learn from this.''
But what Tennessee fans learned is that the Vols’ earlier 23-10 showing against No. 1 Florida was hardly a fluke, that yesterday when Monte Kiffin’s defense denied Alabama from scoring a touchdown in a game for the first time in two years it bode well for what is to come, maybe as early as this coming Saturday when UT, now 3-4, hosts South Carolina in a 7:30 ESPN game.
As John Adams, the Knoxville sports editor, wrote this morning, “UT challenged Florida. It terrified Alabama.”
UT’s Lane Kiffin was understandably shaken afterward. “It's a difficult loss to deal with. You come into a hostile environment and play the No. 1 team in the country, as I said before by far the No. 1 team in the country and the best-coached team around. You come in here and outgain them by (nearly) 100 yards and miss three field goals.
``I don't believe in moral victories, we should have won that game,'' the Vol boss declared, wondering out loud if – with quarterback Jonathan Crompton 4-for-4 on the final drive – the Vols should have forged on with another play – maybe two - rather than play for position before the field-goal try.
"I'll go back over that a million times," Kiffin said. "I'm already killing myself for it. You'd like to think you can kick a field goal to win the game. You risk turning the ball over right there or you risk a penalty," Kiffin said of calling another play. "All of a sudden you get a penalty and you knock yourself out (of field-goal range). I didn't want to do that to our guys. I didn't want to take it out of their hands."
As it turned out, “Mount Cody” took care of the rest. “I just knew,’’ said Cody, “we had to make a play. I had to make a play. We couldn’t wait on anybody else to make a play. I got a good jump off the line, pushed the guy back and just stuck my arm up.’’
Tennessee kicker Jeremy Lincoln has nursed an injured quad muscle but is well-aware of the first rule of a place-kicker. “(Kick it) higher than they are," as Kiffin would later explain. "There isn't an exact rule because it depends on the jumper and how much push (they get). … We allowed so much push up front, they put their big boys in there.”
Kiffin tried to avoid matchups all day, but said it is impossible in a kicking situation and knew Alabama would come with the mammoth Cody and the rest. "You know, (Lincoln) has kicked so well early on, so well in the preseason and so well in the first couple games. He had the quad and has not quite looked the same in practice,” said the UT coach.
“He has not seemed to have as much power, but we've got to do a better job up front for penetration because he doesn't have the big leg right now, he can't kick the ball really high. If you kick it really high, it's never going to get there." Of course, It never will with some giant like Cody batting the ball down, either.
The bigger thing is that the rivalry, and the games these two schools that have been played down through the years, is every bit so big books can be written about it and Saturday’s saga proved it quite succinctly once again.
royexum@aol.com
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