KNOXVILLE — The cigar smoke went up and the goalposts came down again at Neyland Stadium.
After being held scoreless in the first half for a third consecutive contest, No. 11 Tennessee erupted in the third and fourth quarters to defeat No. 7 Alabama 24-17 before a frenzied crowd of 101,915 that had a sizable portion reach the field to celebrate a second straight conquest of the visiting Crimson Tide.
Nico Iamaleava’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Chris Brazzell II with 5:52 remaining put the Volunteers ahead to stay at 21-17, and they unleashed their stingy defense the rest of the way. Saturday’s outcome was nothing like the 52-49 shootout that Tennessee won over Alabama two years ago, but winning coach Josh Heupel didn’t seem to mind one bit.
“That’s college football as good as it gets,” said Heupel, whose team avenged last year’s 34-20 loss in Tuscaloosa. “The Neyland effect of our fans was elite, and I appreciate them hanging with us when our offense was struggling. Defensively, we had just an absolutely elite performance controlling the line of scrimmage, controlling the quarterback and doing an unbelievable job on third down.
“It was another prize fight where we had to answer the bell, and our guys answered the bell. I’ll go to battle with these guys any day. It was another great night on Rocky Top.”
Tennessee, which lost 15 straight series meetings against Alabama from 2007-21, improved to 6-1 overall and to 3-1 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Tide dropped to 5-2 and 2-2. Alabama has lost two games before the end of October under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer, something that last occurred during Nick Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa in 2007.
“I told our players that these are the speeches that I’m not good at,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got to look inward first and make sure everything we’re doing is right. I know we have enough vets to where this eats at them, and we’ve got to mesh the vets with the new guys who need to continue to understand what this program stands for and what it’s all about.
“I don’t question the fight or the prep or the work they put in. These guys came in ready this week, and I felt like we were on track each and every day. We just can’t mesh right now the offense and defense together and play great team football. We’ve got to separate ourselves and have that killer instinct, and right now we don’t do that.”
Tennessee outgained Alabama 411-314 in total offense behind the rushing of junior Dylan Sampson, who pounded out 139 yards on 26 carries and scored two touchdowns to give him 17 this season. Iamaleava completed 14 of 27 passes for 194 yards with a touchdown and an interception in becoming the first freshman quarterback to knock off the Tide since Auburn’s Bo Nix in 2019.
The game featured five combined turnovers, with four of those in the first half, and a staggering 26 combined penalties for 210 yards.
One of the biggest moments in the contest was a flag. With 1:55 remaining, Vols freshman cornerback and former Bradley Central standout Boo Carter provoked Alabama receiver Kendrick Law into a personal-foul penalty that turned fourth-and-7 for the Tide at their 33-yard line into fourth-and-22 from their 18.
A pass from Jalen Milroe to Justice Haynes would gain only 13 yards out to Alabama’s 31, and Tennessee used that field position to set up Max Gilbert’s 41-yard field goal with 1:30 left for the final points.
“It was great that happened and that we were able to capitalize on it,” Vols sophomore linebacker Arion Carter said of the exchange between Boo Carter and Law. “I saw it, and as I saw it unfolding, I had to go grab him and let him know, ‘This is a big-time ballgame and a big situation, and you’ve got to hold your composure.’
“He’s a young player like I am, and being able to be a big brother to him, I just said, ‘Hey, let them do that. We’re going to play the next down, and we’re going to talk with our helmet.’”
Alabama was out of timeouts following Gilbert’s field goal, and the visitors’ last gasp ended quickly when Milroe was intercepted by Will Brooks at the Tide’s 36 with 1:20 to play.
The Vols posted three straight scoreless first halves for the first time since 1963 but embarked on a seven-play, 91-yard march that culminated with Sampson’s 2-yard touchdown run that pulled them into a 7-7 tie at the 6:32 mark of the third quarter. Sampson had a 36-yard gain to Alabama’s 38 on the possession, and Iamaleava had a 27-yard scramble to the 9.
Alabama answered with a 10-play, 58-yard drive and went back on top 10-7 on Graham Nicholson’s 35-yard field goal, but a 55-yard strike from Iamaleava to Dont’e Thornton to the Tide’s 3-yard line set up another Sampson touchdown on the ensuing play to put the Vols up for the first time at 14-10.
“That’s a play we’ve worked on all week,” Thornton said of Tennessee’s biggest gain of the night. “The look wasn’t the exact thing we had faced all week, but we thought it would hit.”
The Tide regained the lead at 17-14 early in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard touchdown run by Haynes that was set up by a 28-yard pass from Milroe to Germie Bernard on the previous play.
After holding Alabama to a quick three-and-out series to start the game, Tennessee had a second straight impressive opening possession that ended with a turnover. The Vols had moved 43 yards in four plays when Sampson at the end of a 20-yard run was stripped by Jah-Marien Latham, who caused a fumble that was recovered by Jihaad Campbell at the Tide’s 18.
It was the first fumble of Sampson’s career, which had contained 282 carries at that point.
Alabama took its third possession to Tennessee’s 3, using Milroe completions to Ryan Williams, Law and Haynes, but Milroe tried to force a pass to Williams in the end zone and was intercepted by Jermod McCoy, who made a 54-yard return to the Tide 46.
“That was a huge play in the game and changed the way the game was played from there on out because of the score,” Heupel said. “Our red-zone defense has been special, and tonight was another special performance.”
Iamaleava, however, would overthrow Squirrel White to negate a likely scoring connection, and Gilbert missed a 53-yard field-goal attempt to keep the game scoreless with 1:51 remaining in the first quarter.
“I missed the shot to Squirrel, and if I hit that, it gets our offense going,” Iamaleava said. “I’ve got to be better on that, but I’m proud of the way we’ve bounced back.”
Tennessee went 1-29 against Florida and Alabama from the 2007 season to the 2021 season. The Vols are now 4-2 against that duo since the start of 2022, including 2-0 this year, as they beat the Gators 23-17 in overtime last weekend.
“I know there has been a lot of struggling against those two teams,” Iamaleava said. “I’m super glad we got this win.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.