Tennessee got defensive on Saturday.
The Volunteer defense stifled Alabama’s offense in the historic Third Saturday in October series to take a 26-10 victory inside Neyland Stadium.
It is Tennessee’s third straight home win in the series.
“I knew it would be, but it was an elite atmosphere and a part of the game for four quarters,” Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel said. “It was a phenomenal atmosphere and a great win. The defense had a suffocating and elite performance. We are really proud of those guys. They handled adversity and sudden change extremely well, and I am really proud of our guys. So, we will enjoy this one tonight and then start getting better tomorrow.”
Tennessee held Alabama to 201 total offensive yards in the game – with 62 yards coming on the final offensive drive.
“I felt like they were better up front than they were a year ago, and through the course of this season, our defensive line has continued to get better every week,” Heupel said. “Xavier [Gilliam] has been elite, but there are a lot of them that have been playing at a really high level, and our edges were able to get to the quarterback tonight to affect them, he escaped on a couple plays, but I think the key is our front is playing well off of each other. That’s in our twist game, our run stunts, they’re executing and performing together, and it takes a level of unselfishness to do that. It’s a big part of that group right now.”
DeSean Bishop had a monster game for the Vols as he recorded 159 yards on 32 carries and two touchdowns. Bishop scored on a five-yard run late in the third quarter, and capped a nine-minute drive with a five-yard score with 3:17 to play to secure the win.
Tennessee held a 12-10 lead at the half as Cooper Ranvier hit four field goals in the first half.
“The run game, situationally, us playing smart, and finding a way, the right way to try to go win a football game, operating out of the huddle offensively, there’s a lot of pieces of it, the run game, certainly,” Heupel said. “You look at the way we were able to finish the football game, with, I don’t know how many plays it was, but a lot of big plays in the run game, a couple key conversions throwing the football too. Really proud of the effort of the offense finishing that way. But we’ve talked about this being a line-of-scrimmage game, a boxing match mentality; you have to win with physicality for four quarters, and I thought we did that. I’m proud of our football team.”
It was Bishop’s third 100-yard game of the season.
George MacIntyre got the starting nod at quarterback for the Vols and was 21-of-31 for 197 yards in his first start inside Neyland Stadium.
“It is just a dream come true,” MacIntyre said. “Just to be out there, with the amount of gratitude I had to be playing ball, to be playing against Bama. Growing up, I always circled this day on the calendar. I would wake up early, watch GameDay all day, and then we would turn on the Tennessee vs. Alabama game. So I am just glad that we could come out and get a win for our fans and our state.”
Mike Matthews had seven catches for 85 yards.
Photos by Matt Laws/Carter County Sports
