Mattingly: October’s third Saturday means one thing

Sometimes it’s amazing what you remember, even events from 50 years ago.

In the summer of 1957, our family went on vacation to the Isle of Palms with long-time friends Frank and Tommie Rose and their family. Frank was president of Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., better known as “Transy” in family parlance. They were good folks.

He also was on his way to becoming president of the University of Alabama. One afternoon, he announced that the first thing he would do on taking over in Tuscaloosa was to hire Bear Bryant as head football coach. I had no idea who Bear Bryant was, but all of us would find out. Quickly.

We saw the 1958 Tennessee-Alabama game from Frank’s seats in Section C at Shields-Watkins Field. Tennessee won 14-7, and all was right with the world.

For the record, I have seen 44 of the last 48 games, missing only the 1959, 1961, 1963 and 1965 contests, all in Birmingham. It’s been quite an experience.

With Alabama in crimson-and-white uniforms on one side of the field and Tennessee in orange and white on the other, it was football played the way it was meant to be. The venue didn’t matter.

It’s “Alabama Week” once again, this time at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game moved back to Tuscaloosa in 1999 and has been played there ever since. It’s a magnificent arena, befitting the tradition of the series.

Consider some series highlights.

In 1982, Tennessee was clinging to a 35-28 lead with the Tide moving to the north end inside the final minute. When Lee Jenkins tipped a Tide pass and Mike Terry grabbed the pigskin, Neyland Stadium had never been louder.

In 1993, Tennessee led Alabama 17-9, as the Tide marched to the north end of Legion Field. The decibel level grew as Jay Barker scored on a sneak, and David Palmer hit right end for the tying two-point conversion. Alabama had stolen a tie, and Alabama fans went bonkers.

In 2005 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was moving to the south end, and completed a key third-down pass to get it close. When Jamie Christensen booted the game-winner, Alabama observers said Bryant-Denny Stadium had never been more animated. Even though our seats were high in the upper deck, probably closer to Bessemer than the field, I tended to agree.

Over the years, there was the thrill, for Alabama partisans at least, of being “back,” with a national championship in 1961, Alabama 34, Tennessee 3. This transition came after Tennessee had compiled a 9-1-3 record against the Tide from 1948 through 1960, pitching five shutouts and allowing but 83 points in the 13 games.

There was, for Tennessee fans, the thrill of one of those “inspirational ties,” Tennessee 7, Alabama 7, in 1965. The Tide had a game-winning field goal in its sights, but didn’t win after Ken Stabler lost track of the downs and threw the ball out of bounds. On fourth down. The thrill lasted a couple of days. The deaths of three assistant coaches the next Monday morning shook the Vol program.

Alabama won 11-10 in the rain the next year in Knoxville, before Tennessee won the next four, as the series turned again. Just before kickoff Oct. 19, 1969, a small plane suddenly appeared over Legion Field, unfurling a banner reading, “This Is Big Orange Country.” Tennessee 41, Alabama 14.

In 1971, the series turned again and stayed that way until 1982, when the Vols won their first of four in a row. The streak was keyed by a duo named Jones. Johnnie scored the game-winner in 1983, 41-34 Tennessee, and Dale had a point-blank interception off Mike Shula in 1985 to save a 16-14 Tennessee triumph. Tony Robinson and Andre Creamer made the big plays in 1984.

Alabama then went on another streak from 1986 to 1994 before the events of the evening of Oct. 14, 1995. Peyton Manning hit Joey Kent for 80 yards and a score on the game’s first play en route to a 41-14 win and the series turned in the Vols’ direction … again.

Both teams were hurt by measurements and judgment calls that went against them, Tennessee in 1971 at Legion Field, Alabama in 1984 at Neyland Stadium. Controversies like that are just part of the charm of the series.

The Vols are 10-2 against the Tide since 1995. Nobody really knows where the trend of the series might be headed. One team or the other always seems to have momentum, but it just takes one game to turn things around.

It hardly seems that nearly 50 years have passed since Frank Rose’s news flash and that day in Section C, but there is much more excitement to come, starting Saturday.

Tom Mattingly has experienced the ups and downs of the Tennessee-Alabama football series over the years. He is the author of “The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006” (2006), to be published in second edition in 2008, and “Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years” (1998). He may be reached at tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called “The Vol Historian.”

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!