Tennessee football fans react after game-winning field goal vs Alabama
A look inside Neyland Stadium after Tennessee football defeated Alabama 52-49 on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022.
Gentry Estes, Knoxville News Sentinel
There is a special reverence for Tennessee football players who rise to the occasion against Alabama in October.
Peyton Manning-to-Joey Kent in ’95. Dale Jones’ interception 10 years earlier. Fresh in our memories are Jalin Hyatt’s five touchdowns, Bru McCoy’s clutch catch, Chase McGrath’s game-winning field goal.
Then there was that day 54 years ago when not one, not two, but a posse of Vol defenders conspired for an accomplishment that now seems unrepeatable.
Bear Bryant’s 1970 Alabama team came to Neyland Stadium hoping to snap a three-game losing streak to Tennessee. Doug Dickey, the architect of the streak, was gone, replaced by the nation’s youngest head coach, 28-year-old Bill Battle.
Sorry, Bear. UT’s streak grew to four. The Vols won, 24-0, the Tide blanked for the first time since 1959.
Tennessee’s offense did its part, but the heroes were on defense. The Vols intercepted eight passes.
Eight. That’s not a misprint.
Of course, it’s a school record. Heck, in 2017 and again in 2020, Tennessee intercepted five passes all season.
It wasn’t a fluke. The ’70 Vols would intercept 36 passes for the season, still an SEC record. That bettered the school mark of 30 interceptions set the year before, 1969.
No Tennessee defense has come close since. The 1999 Vols were the last to hit 20, with 21 picks.
Alabama quarterback Scott Hunter tied a dubious school record, throwing five of the picks. Kenny Stabler had also thrown five against UT in 1967.
Here’s how the day unfolded.
Pick No. 1: Neb Hayden, making a rare start, was picked off by Tim Priest on Alabama’s second possession. Priest’s return to the Tide 16 set up a Tennessee touchdown and 7-0 lead.
Pick No. 2: Second quarter, Hunter was intercepted by linebacker Jamie Rotella. Tennessee punted.
Pick No. 3: With 18 seconds left in the half, linebacker Jackie Walker intercepted Hunter. The half ended 7-0.
Pick No. 4: Early in the third quarter Conrad Graham picked off Hayden and returned across midfield. The Vols drove for a touchdown and 14-0 lead.
Pick No. 5: Priest again, intercepting Hunter for a 22-yard return.
Pick No. 6. Late third quarter still, it was Bobby Majors’ turn, picking off Hunter. That set up a field goal early in the fourth quarter. Tennessee, 17-0.
Pick No. 7: Soon after Alabama received the kickoff following the field goal, Hayden’s pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Walker. 24-0.
Pick No. 8: For good measure, Priest got his third interception of the day, Hunter’s fifth.
What a day for Tennessee’s defense.
One week later, Walker would record another pick-six, in a win over Florida.
Majors finished the season with 10 interceptions, Priest nine.
Priest still stands as the school career leader with 18. I doubt that will be bettered. Graham finished with 15, Majors 13.
Four of the five interceptors that day made first-team All-America in their careers: Walker in 1970 and ’71; Majors in ’71; Graham and Rotella in ’72.
Priest, a 1970 captain, became a Knoxville attorney and Bob Kesling’s color commentator on the Vol Network from 1999-2021.
Walker, a Fulton High School product, in 1971 became the first Black player to captain an SEC team. He died in 2002, sharing an NCAA career record with five interceptions returned for touchdowns.
Tennessee finished 1970 11-1, No. 4 in the AP poll.
Alabama finished 6-5-1. For 1971, Bryant switched the Tide’s offense from pro-style to a wishbone option, went undefeated and then won a national championship in 1973.
I wonder if that awful afternoon in Neyland Stadium had anything to do with it.
Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.
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Publish date : 2024-10-15 22:09:00
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