Nothing smells sweeter than the smell of a a victory cigar on that third fall Saturday of October.
Alabama avenged last season's loss to Tennessee in Knoxville by earning a 37-20 win over Tennessee on Saturday night. Two sequences keyed the Crimson Tide's victory.
Leading 16-7 late in the first half, Alabama sophomore CB Zabien Brown intercepted Joey Aguilar in the endzone and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown with zeroes on the clock to give Alabama a 23-7 lead heading into the locker room. Just when it looked like Tennessee was poised to cut the lead to just two points - and seize every bit of momentum - Brown snatched it right out of the air and took it the other way.
Credit to Tennessee because the Vols weren't going to give up that easily. Alabama went three-and-out on its first possession of the second half, and Tennessee scored a quick touchdown to cut the Tide's lead to just 10 less than four minutes into the second half. After a Ty Simpson fumble near midfield, the game looked in doubt.
But Alabama's defense stood tall and forced a punt, which Tennessee pinned at the Tide's 1-yard line. Needing a drive to regain some momentum, Simpson engineered a masterful 9-play, 99-yard touchdown drive to give the Crimson Tide a three-possession lead again.
Simpson got the drive started with a 14-yard pass play to Ryan Williams to get some breathing room. One of the biggest plays on the drive was a 1st-and-10 from the 38 when Simpson threw a backwards pass to Germie Bernard to set up a trick play that Tennessee sniffed out. Bernard made an incredible individual effort to turn what looked like a massive loss into an 18-yard gain to keep the sticks moving.
Simpson capped the drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman Rico Scott.
The Vols scored again to cut it to 10, but the Crimson Tide answered that with another long touchdown drive to put the game away.
Alabama continues to look like a National Championship contender
The win over Tennessee was Alabama's fourth straight win over an AP-ranked opponent. After being left for dead following a pitiful performance and loss to Florida State in Week 1, Kalen DeBoer has led the Crimson Tide to six consecutive victories. They are right in the thick of the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff races.
With Ole Miss falling to Georgia, Alabama and Texas A&M are the only undefeated teams left in conference play.
Alabama keeps getting better every week. There's still room for improvement, but it's hard to be too upset with a multi-score win over the 11th-ranked team in the country.
Alabama's offense played a much better second half than it had in recent weeks, putting together two crucial touchdown drives that proved to be vital. And while the defense was far from perfect, particularly against the run, they came up with enough plays in key moments to win the game. That's been the theme for Kane Wommack's unit this season, and it continues to work.
Alabama will travel to South Carolina next week in an obvious trap-game situation against a team that is much better than their record would indicate. On the other side of that game is a much-needed bye week.