Saturday’s game could put the Vols back on equal footing with their SEC rival. But what would have happened if Bama didn’t block that kick in 2009?
The afternoon began with a headset outage, and to this day parties on both sides passive-aggressively accuse each other of gamesmanship. The clash between two college football rivals wound over a strange three hours, bereft of drama until a sudden infusion of it in the final three minutes. The contest ended with a blocked kick that literally has been framed and mounted in the winning school’s rich history.
“Ultimately, you’ve got to get the coaches right,” says former Alabama quarterback and current ESPN analyst Greg McElroy. “They screwed the pooch a couple times.” Would Kiffin still have been unemployed and damaged goods, available for Saban to hire as offensive coordinator in 2014 after being fired at USC?
Lampley remembers watching that 2009 game with a big group at a farm owned by one of his law partners. The law firm included some Alabama grads, so there was some jawing going on. When the kick was blocked, the party erupted—some in elation, more in horror. The game began amid controversy, and there is still finger-pointing in both directions over it. Shortly before kickoff, according to Kiffin, the Tennessee headsets went out. That meant, by rule, Alabama could not use its headsets either.“Five seconds before kickoff, it was amazing how that happened,” Kiffin says. “Especially knowing that I was the play-caller on the field and had zero ability to communicate in the headsets. Just amazing how that happened right at that time.
” McElroy says. “A 12–3 lead for us, with our defense? That was like a 21-point lead in 2009. We’re putting the game on ice. Then Mark, who never fumbled, put one on the deck.” It was no sure thing. Lincoln came into the game having made eight of 10 field goals for the season but missed one earlier in the game and got another low liner blocked by Cody’s armpit. Saban called timeout to ice Lincoln, and the Tide coaches reinforced the plan—max block, all 11 men rushing, with Cody flanked by a pair of fellow 300-pounders on the left side of the Tennessee line. Left guard Cory Sullins, only 270 pounds, was the luckless target of Cody’s frontal assault.
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