University of Tennessee Athletics
Third Saturday In October
October 19, 2007 | Football
September 15, 2007:?? Third and one on the Arkansas 4-yard line. Eight seconds remaining in the game. Alabama???s John Parker Wilson connects with Matt Caddell in the back corner of the end zone to give Alabama a 41-38 win over Arkansas.
September 29, 2007: Second and nine on the Florida 26-yard line. Three seconds remain in the game. Wes Byrum launches a 43-yard field goal through the uprights as time expires to give Auburn a 20-17 upset win over #4 Florida.
October 13, 2007: Fourth and two on the Kentucky 17-yard line. Third overtime. Wildcat linebacker Braxton Kelley downs running back Charles Scott less than a yard from the first-down marker to preserve a 43-37 win for Kentucky over #1 LSU.
Sometimes, 60 minutes (or more) are defined by a single play.
It has happened three times in the SEC and countless more times around the country this season. In the midst of a year where nothing in the college football world is deemed impossible and very few things qualify as unlikely, one of the game???s most storied rivalries takes place Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
It is a contest that fits nicely into the great tradition of the game, but it also has seen its share of moments that would fit nicely into the wild story of the 2007 college football season.
This year???s contest between the Crimson Tide and the No. 20 Volunteers doesn???t have the national significance of years past, but it does have every bit of the passion. Fans from both schools can recite???almost as written above???the persons, places and plays that have made the game what it is today.??
In honor of the 90th renewal of the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry, here are nine game-changing or game-ending plays that help tell the story of the Third Saturday in October.
Oct. 20, 1928: Fourteen years after the last game between the two teams and on the day most consider the rivalry to have officially begun, sophomore Gene McEver returns the game???s opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Tennessee hangs on, 15-13, to win its first game in Tuscaloosa.
Oct. 21, 1939: In one of the most famous plays in the history of Tennessee football, Johnny Butler takes a second-quarter handoff and zig-zags across Shields-Watkins Field for a 56-yard touchdown, breaking many tackles along the way. Tennessee wins 21-0 on its way to an undefeated regular season and SEC championship.??
Oct 16, 1965: With the game tied at seven in the fourth quarter, Alabama quarterback Kenny Stabler uses the remaining minutes to march Alabama 71 yards to the Tennessee 4. On fourth and goal with the clock ticking closer to zero, Stabler loses track of the downs and throws the ball away in an attempt to stop the clock for a game-winning field goal. Tennessee salvages a tie and lays claim to one of only two blemishes on the Crimson Tide???s 1965 record.
??Oct. 16, 1982: Alabama???s No. 2 ranking, an 11-game winning streak over the Vols and a late comeback attempt are put to rest as Tennessee defensive end Mike Terry intercepts a Walter Lewis offering in the end zone to seal a 35-28 upset win for Tennessee. A 34-yard rumble by fullback Chuck Coleman with little more than seven minutes to play proved the deciding score.
Oct. 15, 1983: Johnny Jones storms 66 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to put Tennessee ahead for good in a 41-34 come-from-behind win at Legion Field. The game was a back-and-forth, big-play affair. Six touchdowns were scored on plays of more than 30 yards, with Jones??? being the last.
Oct. 20, 1984: Johnny Jones jumps into the end zone from one yard out with 2:09 remaining in the game to pull Tennessee within a point of Alabama, 27-26. Head coach Johnny Majors decides to go for two and calls the option. Quarterback Tony Robinson fakes the pitch and leaps to paydirt. Tennessee celebrates its third dramatic victory in a row over the Tide.
Oct. 19, 1985: Tennessee linebacker Dale Jones bats a Mike Shula offering into the air and then reaches up and grabs it as he falls to the ground. The interception cuts short an Alabama drive and preserves a 16-14 win for the Vols. Tennessee rides the momentum from the win to an SEC title and Sugar Bowl victory.
Oct. 14, 1995: Peyton Manning hits Joey Kent on a slant route for an 80-yard touchdown on the game???s first play from scrimmage. Manning goes on to throw or rush for four of Tennessee???s five touchdowns in a 41-14 romp of the Tide.
Oct. 25, 2003: A surely exhausted Jason Allen breaks up Brodie Croyle???s pass on fourth and two to secure a 51-43, five-overtime win for Tennessee. Vols quarterback Casey Clausen led a heroic fourth-quarter drive just to get the game into extra frames, completed a 29-yard pass to C.J. Fayton on fourth-and-19 to salvage the game in the second overtime, then called his own number for a 1-yard touchdown in the fifth OT to put Tennessee ahead for good.
