Summit of Mt. Cody Too Steep For the Tennessee Volunteers

Terrence Cody is a mountain of a man standing at 6'5" and 360 pounds. On Saturday, Oct. 24, he etched his name into Alabama lore with two blocked field goals, the second block coming as the game clock expired.

Tennessee came off a bye week prepared to take on the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. They nearly pulled off an upset victory that would have significantly dampened the hopes of a national title for the Crimson Tide.

Credit the coaching staff of the Volunteers and the gritty play by the visiting team. Missed opportunities, self-inflicted penalties, and one large hand took away any chance of a Volunteers victory.

On the other side of the field, the Crimson Tide improved to 8-0 with the win. Despite being held to a season-low for offensive production, McElroy engineered drives of 49 yds, 22 yds, 64 yds, and 31 yds, repeatedly setting up points off the foot of SEC leading scorer, Leigh Tiffin.

Tiffin was perfect on the day, and had to be for the Tide come away with the win. Two of his kicks—one from 50 yards and the other from 49 yards—barely made it over the cross bar for the three points. But they were long enough and true to the mark.

The Alabama offense rushed for 136 yards on 30 plays for an average of 4.5 yards per carry. McElroy once again struggled in the passing game, netting only 120 yards (18-29-0) but played mistake free. In his previous game against the Gamecocks, the Alabama quarterback was intercepted twice.

The Volunteer offense moved the ball well against the stubborn Alabama defense. In the end, the 341 yards of total offense, the most against the Alabama defense this year, was not enough for a win. The Vols fall to 3-4 on the year.

Penalties hurt the Volunteers at critical times in the game. On the day, the Vols were flagged eight times for 68 yards, four penalties coming in the fourth quarter.

Senior Jonathan Crompton played extremely well (21-37-1) for the visiting team. In the fourth quarter, he led his team on a late drive that took 8 plays, covered 43 yards, and cracked through the end zone on an 11-yard pass to receiver Gerald Jones.

That touchdown, coming with just 1:26 left in the game, was the first touchdown against the Crimson Tide defense in nearly twelve full quarters of play. In addition, it set up an opportunity for an onsides kick, keeping the Volunteers in contention for the upset victory.

The successful onsides kick stunned the Crimson Tide crowd and brought a brief silence to the stadium. With the sense of an unravelling attempt by the Alabama team to keep an unblemished win-loss record intact, the crowd did their part to raise the decibel level and disrupt the signal calling of the visiting team.

The Vols took possession of the ball with 1:19 on the game clock.

Five of the next seven plays were for no gain. The Alabama defense was desperately trying to salvage a victory. But the two successful plays were daggers thrown from the arm of the Tennessee senior quarterback.

The first pass, a 14-yard gain for a first down to the UA 45-yard line. The second, a 23-yard strike over the outstretched arm of an Alabama defender, to senior TE Luke Stocker, to the UA 23-yard line.

Rather than spiking the ball with :43 left and attempting to advance the ball further, Head Coach Lane Kiffin opted to hand the ball off to Monterio Hardesty, move the ball to the center of the field, and drain the remaining time off the clock.

With just :04 seconds remaining, kicker Daniel Lincoln came onto the field for a 44 yard try. For the second time in the game, from nearly the exact mark on the field, Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody rocked over the UT center, broke free into the backfield and blocked the kick just after it left the foot of the UT placekicker.

It was the second block by the Alabama  nose tackle in a span 10 minutes and 33 seconds. The first game that Alabama fans can remember where the win came from a blocked kick, not just once but twice; and by the same player.

With the win, the Crimson Tide can take time to recover from the exhaustion of the eight week stretch without a break. After the bye week, Alabama will host the LSU Tigers at the Sweet Home of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Bryant-Denny Stadium.