Flashback: Tennessee at Alabama October 2005

Flashbacks are always more fun when your team wins in the end.

That was the case as I was watching CSS SEC classics. 365/24/7 Bob Neal and company review SEC games and run a long list of the classics over a weekend.

They replayed the 2005 instant classic matchup pitting the Volunteers of Tennessee with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Early Season Recap for UT

Tennessee started the season as defending champions of the SEC east division. They limped into the Tuscaloosa at 3-2, 2-2 following losses at Florida in week three (7-16) , and at home against Georgia in week six (14-27).

Their wins included victories in week one against UAB, week four against LSU and week five versus Ole Miss.

The victory against LSU was a physically and emotionally draining game for the UT team and fans. The game was played on the road in Baton Rouge. The Vols found themselves down 21-0 at the half to a strong and determined Bengal Tiger offense led by Jamarcus Russell.

Defensive coordinator John Chavis made halftime adjustments with the talented Volunteer defense. Adjustments that held the Tigers to a single field goal in the third quarter. The proud, orange-clad defenders followed up with a complete shut-down and shut-out of the LSU offense in the fourth and final frame.

Meanwhile, Rick Clausen took control of the Tennessee offense and led them to an early touchdown score in the third quarter and finished the game in the fourth quarter with 17 unanswered points.

The Vols led a balanced attack on offense. Gerald Riggs took the lion's share of carries for the runningbacks while Clausen utilized nearly every receiver on the roster.

The Volunteer passer finished 21-32, for 196 yards passing and connected with eight different receivers. Six of those receivers had at least three catches and more than 20 yards receiving in the game. C.J. Fayton led the corp with eight catches for 61 yards.

Despite the second half dominance by the Vols, the game came down to the wire due to the large first half deficit. Placekicker James Wilhoit sealed the win with 2:02 left in the fourth quarter nailing a 28 yard field goal.

The loss to Georgia at home was devastating.

Georgia came into the game at 4-0 while Tennessee was 3-1. A Win by UT would have put them back in the hunt to repeat as SEC east division champs, despite the loss to Florida in week three.

The Georgia team, led by D. J. Shockley came into Knoxville and took the Vols to the woodshed. The Dogs laid a whoopin' on UT that would be hard to forget.

The 27-14 loss was hard to swallow because of poor execution in the red zone, turnovers and penalties. The Vols fumbled three times in the game, losing two, and Clausen threw one interception.

Georgia led in time of possession 32:09 to 27:51.

The UGA offense tallied up 405 total yards in Neyland Stadium, balancing 198 yard rushing against 207 yards passing.

Though Clausen did his part in throwing for 310 yards in the game, the rushing game was horrible, finishing with a net of only 48 yards on 26 rushing attempts. It's the kind of loss that a team must bounce back from in order to salvage the season.

The Big Orange Machine was coming to Tuscaloosa to get back on track.

Phil Fulmer knew he could finish a season with two losses and still end up with a pretty good reward at the end. Three losses puts your team in a hard spot and leaves destiny in the hands of the lower tier bowl tycoons.

You won't be playing on or after New Year's Day.

Early Season Recap for UA

Alabama was riding high at 6-0. The Tide started the season with warm-ups against MTSU and Southern Miss. Tyrone Prothro etched his silhouette into college football lore by making a catch with outstretched arms over the head of a defender, leading his team on a comeback victory over the Golden Eagles.

Then the Crimson clad warriors took their show on the road to Columbia, S.C. and got the offense on track early.

Keith Brown and D.J Hall proved that Ty Prothro was just one of the cogs in a great receiving corp and Brodie Croyle gave them plenty of opportunity to shine.

With the game tied 7-7, Croyle connected with K. Brown on a 46 yard wide receiver screen that opened the floodgates for the Alabama offense. The Tide went on to score 30 unanswered points in the rout.

Ken Darby had 145 yard on 20 carries, showing the rest of the SEC that this was a balanced offense with multiple weapons. His resume from the game includes a 22-yard touchdown run.

Fullbacks Tim Castille and LeRon McClain were dependable on third down and kept the ball in the hands of the Alabama offense. Alabama had better than 37 minutes in time of possession.

Jamie Christensen added nine points on three field goals. Points came from every phase of the game. Prothro and Hall were always a threat on kickoffs and punt returns, landing the offense in good field position.

In Week 4, Alabama rolled over Arkansas in the first three quarters but only led by a score of 10-3. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Tim Castille capped a drive with a 1-yard run giving the Tide a comfortable 17-3 lead.

But the Huston Nutt led Razorbacks were not finished and hadn't show Alabama their secret weapon.

On the next offensive series, freshman Darren McFadden became a household name throughout the Southeast and across the nation, by taking the hand off from quarterback Robert Johnson and streaking 70 yards up the sideline.

Alabama senior safety, Roman Harper, was a mere speed bump to the stiff arm of McFadden. The play by the freakish man-child sent shockwaves across the southland and struck fear into future Razorback opponents.

The Hogs pulled even closer, following a blocked punt and subsequent field goal by Chris Balseiro. With the score at 17-14, the Alabama offense took control and marched downfield for an eight play drive that ended in a five yard touchdown pass to an uncovered D.J. Hall.

With only 2:22 left on the play clock, the 11 point lead was insurmountable for the tired, dejected Arkansans.

Week 5 was Shula's finest game as the Alabama head coach. The No. 5 ranked, undefeated Florida Gators swaggered into Bryant Denny averaging 34.5 points per game.

The Gators were in control of the east, having defeated the Tennessee Vols 17-6 in week three and blowing out the Kentucky Wildcats 49-28 in week four.

Urban Meyer was on a roll in his first season as head coach and planned on torching through the southeast like Sherman on his way through Atlanta. His spread system was installed and seemed unstoppable, now being run by graceful, stud Florida athletes.

DeMeco Ryans and the Alabama defense had something else in mind for the first year coach and his high octane offense.

Meyer, an outsider to the southeast, had never played at Bryant Denny and knew very little regarding Dixie's Pride, Alabama Football.

Chris Leak was just 5-of-16 in the first half and threw two interceptions. After stopping the first offensive possession by Florida, Alabama took over from their own 17 yard line. Croyle connected with Tyrone Prothro on the first play from scrimmage for an 87 yard touchdown pass that took all of eight seconds to complete.

The Tide rolled to a 17-0 first quarter lead and never looked back. The offense racked up 407 total yards in the rout over the Gators. Croyle passed for 283 yards in the game. Ken Darby rushed for 101 yard, again adding balance to the offense.

Alabama won the game 31-3.

The Florida loss was the worst defeat since 2002 and put an end to a 20-game winning streak for head coach Urban Meyer (Utah and Florida).

Alabama quarterback Brodie Croyle graced the cover of Sports Illustrated in the following week with the cover touting, "Bama is Back." It was a remarkable victory and a signature win for the third year head coach, Mike Shula.

Unfortunately for the Tide, their rising star, Tyrone Prothro, suffered a career ending fracture in his left leg. Prothro was a leader on the offense and special teams. His loss was felt immediately and the entire state mourned for the fallen warrior.

The Game

The Alabama victory over UF was a perfect scenario for Fulmer and the Volunteers. Having lost in a close contest to Florida just three weeks earlier, a victory on the road in Tuscaloosa is what the No. 17 ranked Tennessee team needed to gain favor in the polls and make the climb back into the Top 10.

After coming off the bye week, Alabama went on to defeat a struggling Ole Miss by means of a 31-yard field goal as time expired. The Alabama offense was sputtering with the loss of Prothro but the national polls had the Tide ranked at No. 5.

Fulmer had a knack for winning against the Tide.

As head coach, Fulmer possesses the longest win streak against Alabama over all previous Volunteer coaches. From 1995-2001, Tennessee owned the Crimson Tide. Fulmer guided the Vols to seven straight wins over the Tide with an average margin of victory at just over 14 points.

In 2003, the Vols came into Tuscaloosa and defeated the Crimson Tide 51-43 in a five-overtime win.

In '04, Fulmer and the Volunteers pulled out a home victory in which the Alabama team led in every major statistical category. In the 17-13 victory, the Vols had the ball for only 26:04 while the Tide time of possession was a whopping 33 minutes and 56 seconds.

Flumer was golden against Alabama.

In 17 years, he had 10 legitimate victories and was awarded an eleventh by default. Alabama would forfeit the 1993 game that ended in a 17-17 tie, due to NCAA sanctions. Some Alabama fans still believe that Fulmer had everything in the world to do with the troubling times the Tide had to endure. That is a discussion for another day but one that I will not partake.

October 23, 2005 was the fourth Saturday in October of that year. Nevertheless, it was a day to remember.

After three quarters of play, Alabama led 3-0. The Volunteer defense was making a stand against the sputtering offense of the Crimson Tide, holding them to under 180 yards of total offense for three and two-thirds quarters.

The Volunteers tied the game with 11:32 remaining in the fourth quarter on a 32 yard field goal by James Wilhoit.

Through the middle of the fourth quarter, there had been only one turnover in the game, an interception by the Tennessee defense. Croyle had been sacked six times and Ken Darby had under 60 yards rushing for the game.

With just over nine minutes left in the game, Tennessee took possession on their own 47-yard line. The UT offense proceeded to drive the ball down the throat of the highly ranked Alabama defense.

Rick Clausen began the drive with a slant pass complete to Chris Hannon for 15 yards and a first down on the Alabama 38-yard line.

Three consecutive rushing plays to Arian Foster over left tackle, right end and right guard, moved the ball to the Alabama 27-yard line with just over six minutes to play.

Rudy Griffin, Roman Harper and Juwan Simpson stood in the gaps for the Tide but the Volunteer offense continued to push forward.

On the fifth play from scrimmage, Gerald Riggs took the handoff from Clausen and rushed over the left end for 24 yards before he was brought down on a game saving tackle by Simeon Castille.

The large gain left the Volunteers on the Alabama three yard line.

Riggs was injured on the play and freshman Cory Anderson took over at the halfback position, alongside Arian Foster.

It was a sight that was just too familiar to Alabama fans.

After having led for three quarters and fighting valiantly throughout the fourth, Alabama had it's back to the wall with little time to spare. The Big Orange Machine was about to put the game out of reach with a late score.

On the next series, UT committed two egregious mistakes that would result in negative yards. First, a false start moved the ball from the three yard line to the Alabama nine. On the third play of the series, seventh of the drive, Clausen attempted a sideline pass as he was being pursued by the Alabama defense.

When he released the ball, Clausen was over the line of scrimmage resulting in a five yard penalty and loss of down. That made it third down and 15 from the Alabama 15-yard line.

Tennessee had one more play up their sleeve and they intended to score a touchdown.

On third and goal, Clausen completed a screen to running back Cory Anderson. Anderson, substituting for the injured Riggs, had blocking up front as Alabama looked unprepared for the play to the freshman. Red jerseys were falling all around the Tennessee back who rambled toward the goal.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Roman Harper hit Anderson with perfect form, jarring the ball loose at the four yard line. The ball squirted out of the young running backs arms and through the right side of end zone as Simeon Castille was in hot pursuit.

The Volunteers had moved the ball 53 yards on eight plays in four minutes and fifteen seconds. They had gained one-fifth of the 253 total yards for the entire game in that eight play series and were standing on the brink of victory. The bone-jarring hit by Roman Harper breathed new life into the Alabama team.

The sold out crowd of 81,018 inside the confines of Bryant Denny took the decibel meter to an entirely new level.

The misfortune for the Vols gave the ball to Alabama on the 20-yard line with 5:08 left on the game clock. For the next two plays, it seemed that Alabama would be satisfied to run the clock out and take the game to overtime.

Unfortunately, the busted running plays took very little time off the clock and Alabama was looking at third and eight from their own 22 yard line.

On third down, Shula called a play that was very uncharacteristic of the young head coach. It was a courageous play call that show maturation over the three years at the helm, and confidence in his playmakers.

Though he had been sacked six times, and had hit the turf countless more, Croyle dropped back and delivered a pass on the money down the right sideline to a streaking D.J. Hall.

Despite the excellent coverage, stride for stride, by the UT corner, the ball landed right in Hall's bread basket. He was taken down immediately by the defender but the play resulted in a 43 yard gain and a first down on the UT 35-yard line.

New legs and new life in the Alabama backfield resulted in another first down after two plays.

Then, on the ensuing first down, Ken Darby scampered 11 yards and nearly broke free for a touchdown that would have sealed the win for Alabama, but Kevin Simon forced Darby out of bounds.

Three plays later, Brodie Croyle moved the ball to the center of the field setting up an attempt for Jamie Christensen. Christensen had just helped the Tide to victory with a last second field goal one week earlier against the Rebels of Ole Miss.

With 00:18 on the clock, Alabama lined up for the kick. Without hesitation, "Money" put the 34 yard field goal attempt through the uprights for the winning score.

It was a moment in time for the Alabama football program.

It was a victory on many levels. "Rammer Jammer" hadn't sounded so sweet in 15 years.

But what seemed like a clash of the Titans at the time, later turned out to be a battle of third place teams as the Tide would lose their last two regular season games to the LSU Tigers and Auburn Tigers in consecutive weeks.

Many Alabama fans knew in their heart of hearts that Alabama wasn't yet "Back" in the upper tier of college football programs in the nation, they were not even best in the state. But it was a moment of glory and one that was enjoyed to the fullest.

Against the Volunteers, Alabama had their moment in the sun. The victory was and is a part of the great tradition that is the rivalry between Alabama and Tennessee.

It is one of the many reason why Alabama will never look past UT in a season like the one upcoming.

The Volunteers from Tennessee are always a threat.

The series now stands at 47-38-7 in favor of Alabama. Tennessee will always have the respect of this rabid Alabama fan.

The third Saturday (or fourth) in October is a day to look forward to in any given year.

It is one of the best series in all of college football.