October 24, 2004

Tennessee 17, Alabama 13

Head coach Phillip Fulmer told his team going into the UT/Alabama game that "you don't become a man until you beat Alabama."

The 2004 Tennessee Volunteers became men Saturday afternoon as they beat the Alabama Crimson Tide for the ninth time in ten years, 17-13.

As with all rivallry games, the contest was decided by speical teams and defense. The Tennessee defense struck on the second play of the game when Parys Haralson returned a Ken Darby fumble 18-yards for a touchdown.

It was the last time all afternoon that Darby would look like a freshman. Darby proved to be a thorn in the Vol's side all afternoon, rushing for 108 yards on 25 carries. Darby proved elusive at times to the Tennessee defense and quarterback Spencer Pennington made enough plays to keep the Tide in the game until late.

The Tide got the ball back at their own 28 with a little over two minutes left on the clock and trailing by four points. Pennington led a drive, that included a converted fourth down on a roughing the passer penalty by Tennessee to the Bama 40 before Tennessee's Chad Campbell intercepted a pass with 46 second left to play, sealing the win for Tennessee.

The only offensive touchdown for the Vols came off a huge special teams play. Derrick Tinsley returned a punt 45 yards to the Bama 29. Three plays later, quarterback Eric Ainge connected with Jason Swayne for 19-yards for a Tennessee touchdown that put the Vols ahead to stay.

James Wilhoit tacked on a field goal in the third quarter to complete the Vols scoring.

The Alabama defense played strong all afternoon. Just as the Vols seemed to be gaining momentum and looked to put the game away in the third quarter, a batted ball led to Ainge's second interception of the afternoon at the Tennesse one-yard line. The interception killed the Vols chances to make it a two-score game and breathed a bit of new life into Bama's sails.

But the Tennessee defense, which has played brilliantly the last three games, once again stepped up to help the Vols come away from a close contest with a win.

Posted by Michael Hickerson

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1. Pete Holiday says:

   posted on October 24, 2004 01:46 PM — link

   Honestly, I wasn't impressed by UT's Defense -- Ken Darby rarely had problems keeping the Tide ahead of the chains, even when Tennessee knew it was coming, and Pennington -- a third string quarterback -- had a career day, and had he hit even one of the four or five wide-open deep looks that the UT Secondary gave him, the outcome would've probably gone another way.

   Yes, they definitely got the job done, but I think the outcome was more attributable to 'Bama's weakness at QB than to Tennessee's defense. After all, Pennington couldn't hit a deep throw to save his own grandmother, and despite that UT still gave up four yards a carry to Darby.

   If the Tide actually had a deep threat with which to be concerned, it would've pulled UT out of the 5 man front that seemed to be the only thing keeping Darby from pulling down 8-10 yards a carry.

   Maybe I'm just not giving 'Bama's offense enough credit, but the pass defense was pathetic and the run defense -- UT's strength -- didn't even seem to measure up to Arkansas's.

2. Michael Hickerson says:

   posted on October 24, 2004 08:09 PM — link

   It was a bend-but-don't-break defense in the game. Yeah, the Tide moved the ball from their twenty to about our forty, but once inside the forty, the yards became harder to come by. I am not saying that our defense is great like '98, but it's coming along. It's a work in progress that is playing well and could be a real monster come next year and the year after. In a lot of ways, the potential this team has for the next two years is scary because they could either a)live up to or b)be overachieving this year (ala Notre Dame from two years ago).

3. Pete Holiday says:

   posted on October 24, 2004 11:10 PM — link

   Eh. Bend but don't break is a myth... especially in this case. If Tennessee had had to defend the pass there would've been a lot of breaking. As it stood, the vols were never punished for some absolutely horrible pass coverage. A defense that doesn't have to really worry too much about defending the deep pass shouldn't be bending at all.

   After seeing that game, the Auburn thumping makes a lot of sense.

4. Michael Hickerson says:

   posted on October 25, 2004 10:21 AM — link

   Auburn is steam-rolling all in their path, though the road should get a bit more interesting.

   Also, should they have to play the Vols again, it might be a tighter game in Hot-lanta.

5. lawrence says:

   posted on October 25, 2004 10:10 PM — link

   That game was terable how much did tenn. pay the reff.

6. Michael Hickerson says:

   posted on October 26, 2004 09:18 AM — link

   Lawrence...sour grapes, man...sour grapes.

   Besides, what was up with Shula calling his time outs after the int? Seriously--you've lost. Get over it and move on.

7. bama fan says:

   posted on October 29, 2004 01:00 AM — link

   i wish tommy tuberville coached alabama.