KNOXVILLE — It’s over. Both the streak — once believed to be unbreakable — and the stigma that had surrounded the University of Tennessee football program were snapped as cleanly as both goalposts inside Neyland Stadium after the sixth-ranked Volunteers rallied for 10 points in the final seven minutes to knock off nemesis and third-ranked Alabama on Saturday.
For 15 years, the Crimson Tide had loomed like football’s version of Michael Myers from the “Halloween” movie series — always rising, no matter the circumstances, to kill off Tennessee’s hopes of ending its losing streak in the Third Saturday in October rivalry.
But after UT senior kicker Chase McGrath connected on a 40-yard field goal as time expired to lift his team to the dramatic 52-49 win, it was the Vols who had flipped the script by refusing to give up and the Tide who were left to wonder what just happened as they limped through a mass of orange humanity and celebratory cigar smoke covering the field.
After all, for much of the second half Alabama had followed a storyline similar to the one it has used countless times in matchups with upset-minded opponents, methodically wiping out a deficit and twice taking second-half leads, including an 11-yard scoop-and-score fumble return by Dallas Turner midway through the fourth quarter.
But a funny thing happened on the way to another gut-wrenching Vols defeat: They didn’t flinch. Instead, it was UT that was clutch when it mattered most, driving 75 yards in 11 plays — converting two third downs and a fourth down — to tie the game with just more than four minutes remaining. And after the Tide’s Will Reichard missed a 50-yard field-goal attempt with 15 seconds on the clock, Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker connected on a pair of passes, covering 45 yards, to set up McGrath for the win.