Over at SBN’s Rocky Top Talk, the Vols fans are bruised, but not necessarily beaten. Sure, they lost, but as with their defeat in Florida, the Vols showed enough fight to leave the field with their heads held high. Some initial reactions:
Tennessee Takes Solace in the Positives
Alabama's the No. 1 team in the nation. They were better than us -- much better -- in the eyes of many voters and bytes of many computers. The stats said they would dominate. There's no scoring against the Tide's excellent defense, which were at the top of the rankings in most categories.
But there we were, hoping . . . actually, I think we may have even been expecting . . . a victory with four seconds left on the clock.
It was something of a miracle that we were even there with those thoughts and emotions riding on the foot of Daniel Lincoln. We'd actually outgained them and appeared to dominate the second half.
Actually putting points on the board, though, that was a problem. While Alabama had scored four field goals -- yes, we held the Tide to zero touchdowns -- including one from 50 and one from 49, we'd missed one from forty-something and had another forty-something attempt blocked. "Blocked" may not be the best word. I'm not entirely sure that the ball would have cleared the helmets of our own players had it not first been batted down by Terrence Cody, who'd busted through the line. Having an attempt blocked late in the game felt like that was it. We'd given them a good game but come up short.
And, with some perspective, the folks at Rocky Top realize that despite the defeat, this is game that signals a renaissance for a rivalry that’d been dormant too long:
Right now, thoughts of couldashouldawoulda have to be circling through the heads of Vols fans like buzzards over carrion. With a two-point game differential, it’s easy to point to the poor field goal play (which was not all Lincoln’s fault) as the difference in the game. That was, for sure, as Tennessee outgained Alabama on offense (341 yards to 256 yards), outplayed them on offensive plays (72 plays to 59), outplayed them in turnovers (2 to 1 counting the onsides kick) while only conceding the penalty situation (8 UT penalties accepted to 1 on Alabama). But all those numbers point to only one thing: this game was close.
For years now, we’ve been pining for a time where both Tennessee and Alabama were relevant in the national conversation at the same time coming into this game, and it appears we may be on our way. Tennessee, earlier in the season, played close to Florida in the Swamp. Now they played on par with Alabama in Bryant-Denny. All signs point to Tennessee becoming a topic of conversation for a long time, right alongside Florida and Alabama. It may take another year yet, as attrition of the fifth-year seniors that have done so much for the team this year may set the team back a bit, but there’s no reason to believe it won’t happen.
A hearty congratulations goes out to the Tide, who played a tough, disciplined game from start to finish and made the special teams battle count. There is no moral victory for Tennessee tonight. This wasn’t a case of playing closer than they should have; this was giving one away. To the #1 team in the country. On their turf.
We have ourselves a series, ladies and gents.
Finally.
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