Outdoors: Snakes an overrated fear in the outdoors. 4C
Sports
S U N D A Y , O C T O B E R 25 , 2009
MOBLEY & SONS A FINE GENTLEMEN’S CLOTHIER
205.345.7929
SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
12 10
Block party
Alabama notebook
Getting a leg up
Cody talks about what happened on his two blocked field goals | 9C
Colin Peek misses game with knee injury| 10C
Pushed to the edge
Quarter scores
Tiffin’s four field goals bail out Crimson Tide’s struggling offense | 11C
Mistakes by Tide defense almost prove costly | 9C
An inside look at each quarter | 10C
A wild one
Game stats
Tide offense gets results with variations of Wildcat | 9C
Complete statistics from the game | 10C
Kicking themselves Vols come up short in bid to knock off No. 1 Tide | 11C
ROCKY BLOCK
Blocked field goal as time expires keeps Bama perfect By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor
TUSCALOOSA | There is a mountain higher than Rocky Top. Mount Cody. Twice, the Tennessee Volunteers tried to kick a football over the top of the University of Alabama’s massive defensive lineman. Twice, they failed. The second attempt was the final play of a thrilling game, one in which Tennessee seemed on the verge of a monumental upset. Instead, Daniel Lincoln’s 44-yard field-goal attempt, its trajectory low, was blocked by Cody. The play preserved a harrowing 12-10 win and the No. 1 ranking for the Crimson Tide. Alabama led the game 12-3 with 3:29 remaining when a series of improbable events — unimaginable, almost, to Alabama fans — took place. First, sophomore running back Mark Ingram, who had not lost a fumble in his two-year college career, lost the ball at the Crimson Tide 43-yard SEE BAMA | 11C
Emotion, adversity make this rivalry such a classic
TUSCALOOSA t isn’t the color of the jersey that matters. It’s the color of the blood coursing through the veins of players on both sides that makes a rivalry matter. It’s the size of the heart. It’s the triumph of will over fatigue and adversity. That’s what made Saturday’s Alabama-Tennessee game a classic, one that will stand on its own through the annals of the South’s greatest football series. It didn’t matter if Tennessee wore its white jerseys or if head coach Lane Kiffin had pulled a giant crayon from a sideline box of Crayolas and rendered the Volunteers into an all-orange extravaganza. It wouldn’t matter if the Volunteers had worn puce and Alabama had worn purple with pink pants. What matters is the way both teams played. CECIL The Crimson Tide sur vived with its HURT championship hopes in the Southeastern Conference and the Bowl Championship Series intact. Tennessee leaves with its head held high, and respect earned. The Volunteers came in with a week of rest and the reckless passion of youth and PHOTO | JASON HARLESS outplayed Alabama for much of the game. The Crimson Tide, fatigued and carrying the weight of massive expecta- University of Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody (62) blocks a field goal attempt by Tennessee kicker Daniel Lincoln (26) in the final seconds to tions on its shoulders, found a way to win anyway. SEE HURT | 11C preserve Alabama’s 12-10 victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.
I
STILLMAN 42, LANE COLLEGE 20
Tigers crush Dragons By J.D. Brooks Special to The Tuscaloosa News
TUSCALOOSA | After a slow start in the beginning of Saturday night’s game, the Stillman offense ignited behind the passing attack before finishing Lane College off with Quinn Porter and the rushing attack in a 42-20 victory. The Tigers produced 128 yards through the air and 336 on the ground with Porter accounting for 279 of the rushing yards. Porter, the leading rusher in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, also scored on runs of 69 and 26 yards and threw for another touch-
down as well as successfully converting a two-point attempt. “The spotlight is on the offensive line first of all,” Porter said of his performance. “We have six down linemen and I’m very humble with (the stats) I have and again I have to give the linemen all the credit. “As for the game, it was unbelievable. Everyone executed their assignments correctly. “He had a couple of bad starts but we STAFF PHOTO | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER finished great.” Julius Butler, Bryan Johnson, Alvin Stillman receiver Lee Doss Jr. makes a touchdown Ferrand, Chris Hymel, Kieandre Jones catch in front of Lane College’s Jartarrius Tapplin SEE STILLMAN | 3C (56) and Derrick Shelton (23)
For video highlights and postgame interviews of Alabama players, visit www.tidesports.com
LSU 31, AUBURN 10
Jefferson leads LSU past Auburn The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, LA. | Jordan Jefferson followed the worst game of his young career with his best. Jefferson threw for a career-high 242 yards, including two touchdown passes, and scrambled for another score to lead No. 9 LSU to a 31-10 victory over Auburn on Saturday night. After passing for 96 yards in a 13-3 loss to Florida, Jefferson quickly put that performance behind him with a touchdown pass to Terrance Toliver on LSU’s first series. Toliver had a career-high nine catches for 86 yards, Brandon LaFell caught a touchdown pass and freshman Russell Shepard ran 69 yards for his first career TD. SEE LSU | 6C