The Vols’ last win against Alabama came in 2006.
I love how Jay Busbee of Yahoo! Sports expressed the release that comes when a team with long-suffering fans wins “the big one.” It doesn’t make any difference about the level, the sport, the era, or the circumstance. It’s all the same.
Jay Busbee: The joy (Saturday night) was almost religious, a sense of happiness and relief so vast and deep you couldn’t help but smile in the middle of it all. You wait years of your life for a moment, and when it comes, it’s more beautiful than you can possibly imagine.
Tennessee had never beaten Alabama during the Nick Saban era, and it looked as though Saban would leave Knoxville with that streak intact. His Tide had a touchdown lead in the 4th Quarter before Tennessee rallied to score ten points in the last 3:30 minutes of the game.
While the Vols won the game, Bama committed an astonishing number of infractions–17 for 130 yards. It was a stat that outweighed what should have been the determining factor: Alabama held the ball for nearly 40 minutes of this 60-minute game.
Now all eyes are on the November 5 contest between the Vols and the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens. The winner is the odds-on fav to face … that’s right, Alabama … for the SEC Championship and a likely spot in the College Football Playoff.
But no matter what happens, October 15, 2022, will be etched in Tennessee history, the night when Smokey beat the Elephant. This ol’ dog had his day.
