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HOLY SMOKE
In final minutes, Crimson Tide drives 71 yards for winning score, defense delivers knockout blow
PHOTO | LAURA CHRAMER
Alabama’s A’Shawn Robinson (86) picks up a fumble by Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) late in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Tide linebacker Ryan Anderson (22) sacked Dobbs to force the fumble to seal the Crimson Tide victory.
Tide finds a way to win in the end
When you need clutch, you want UA’s defense on the field
By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor
For the past few years, those Alabama victory cigars have been little luxuries, like a luscious dessert or a glass of port at the end of a four-star meal. On Saturday, one wonders if Alabama had the strength left to light those stogies at all. Tennessee pushed the No. 8 Crimson Tide to the brink on Saturday before a critical touchdown drive and an even more crucial defensive stand sealed Alabama’s ninth win in a row over the Volunteers, a 19-14 win that will stand with the classics of a series that had grown slightly stale recently. This edition had seven years’ worth of drama in the last seven minutes alone. Alabama carried a 10-7 lead into the fi nal period thanks to Adam Griffith’s third-quarter field goal, then stretched that lead to 13-7 on a 28-yarder by Griffith with 7:08 to play. But the Crimson Tide looked like a creaking heavyweight who had put his fi nal wind into that drive, which stalled out at the UT 10. “We looked tired out there,” Alabama head coach Nick STAFF PHOTO | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER Saban said. “We looked dead-legged. We didn’t look very quick, or very fast. We didn’t have a lot of energy.” Crimson Tide linebacker Reuben Foster celebrates SEE T IDE | 4C following the victory.
PAGE 4C CENTURY MAN Derrick Henry gets in gear on Tide’s final drive; tops 1,000 yards for season
STILL SMOKE FREE Tennessee suffers another tough loss, and its ninth straight to Crimson Tide
PAGE 5C THE DRIVE Jake Coker steps up to lead Tide to win on its final possession
CHIPPING AWAY Tide had a few big plays, but relied on steady drives to beat Tennessee
T
he annals of football are fi lled with “clutch” quarterbacks and “clutch” receivers making dazzling catches to carry their team to victory, or “clutch” kickers laughing at pressure as the clock ticks down to the fi nal seconds before they send a field goal safely between the uprights. You hear less about “clutch” defensive lines. But with Saturday’s game against Tennessee hanging in the balance, there was no player, no unit, that Alabama would rather have had on the field. That’s no knock on Adam Griffith, who made both his field goal attempts. It’s no slight on the offense, which delivered a touchdown drive when it mattered most to put things in the hands of the defense. But it’s the defense, especially the fierce front seven, that elevates Alabama. You routinely hear the Crimson Tide front seven referred to as “the best in the country.” That’s a hard
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PAGE 6C ANALYSIS When it mattered most, Tide defense found way to stop Joshua Dobbs
NOTEBOOK Fatigued mentally and physically, Alabama team has much-needed off week
thing to quantify, although they are one of the toughest defenses to run on, per NCA A statistics, and they have been sacking opposing quar terbacks far more in CECIL 2015 than even the HURT great UA defenses of the recent past tended to do. But you won’t see any Alabama defenders on the Heisman podium in New York, or in the top-10 highlight packages. Protecting a five-point lead with two minutes left? That’s when you want to see them. Alabama wasn’t impenetrable on Saturday. Tennessee is too gifted offensively for that, with dual-threat Joshua Dobbs and running back Jalen Hurd, who gets overshadowed in his own league by Derrick SEE HURT | 4C
FOUR DOWNS How the Crimson Tide answered questions against Tennessee
For video and a photo gallery of Alabama’s game with Tennessee, go to www.tidesports.com and www.tuscaloosanews.com