Stout defensive effort gave Vols a chance

Game recap: Tennessee 10, Alabama 12

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Tennessee needed a little patience.

Its defense gave it all it could ever ask for.

The Vols gave up fewer first downs, shut down a Heisman Trophy-candidate running back and shut a powerful offense out of the end zone.

And after waiting nearly an entire game for some help, the unit simply took matters into its own hands and finally out of No. 1 Alabama's to ignite what was nearly an epic comeback and upset on Saturday. UT's improbable strip and late fumble recovery ultimately didn't change the outcome of a 12-10 loss to the Crimson Tide, but it at least inspired a little assistance and might have proved which defense at Bryant-Denny Stadium had the edge.

"It felt like it was about to be a great day (after that)," linebacker Rico McCoy said. "I'm not going to lie, it felt like, 'Yes, that's the play that we needed.' That play showed the attitude of our defense. We pride ourselves on our defense on finishing the game, and a lot of teams could have just tucked their tails in at the end of the game.

"What it came down to was one big play in the ball game. They say you never know when that big play comes. The big play just happened to come at the end of the game today, and we happened to come out on the short end of the stick."

The Vols spent the rest of the afternoon swinging the long end at a high-powered offense that could never figure out how to punch in a touchdown.

Heisman candidate Mark Ingram pounded his way to 99 yards, but none of them came all that easily and he was the tailback victimized by Eric Berry for the crucial late fumble.

Quarterback Greg McElroy was efficient and didn't turn the ball over, but the Crimson Tide was perhaps more effective with him on the sideline.

The Vols gave up some lengthy drives, allowed Alabama to kick four field goals and couldn't win the game on defense alone, but they came pretty close.

"I talk to them about that all the time, you can't control the way the offense plays or special teams," UT coach Lane Kiffin said. "But if you're going to be a championship defense and be the best defense in the country, it doesn't matter what the score is. It doesn't matter what else is going on, you go back out there and get the ball back and play extremely physical the way our guys did today."

The Vols probably needed to get the ball back earlier or more often to help their offense get rolling, and that also required a bit of patience.

But once the defense got its big breakthrough, the offense responded with its only touchdown. The special teams recovered an onside kick and then the offense put together a couple more impressive plays to put UT in position for a signature victory.

Collectively, the Vols just needed one more play.

"I don't really know how to feel right now," Berry said. "I think we did send a message to a lot of people who doubted this team as far as the intensity and as far as how well we do play.

"I feel like we haven't been given enough credit, but we have proved a lot to the country as far as how well we are coached and I think that should be looked at."

One unit in particular should have plenty of eyes on it in the second half, especially after it propped up the other two for so long in an extremely hostile environment.

The 60 minutes the Vols turned in wasn't quite enough though, but they would have stayed on the field even longer if it would have helped.

"With a minute or two left in the game, we still had guys flying to the ball, still had guys getting in there trying to strip the ball," McCoy said. "Man, that just showed the attitude and the spirit of the defense.

"Our offense played their butts off today, too. Their defense had to play just as hard as us today, so I didn't get upset. If we had to do it all day, we would have."

They did finally show a little impatience. It was almost enough to spring an upset.