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Justice Haynes gave Alabama the lead in Knoxville early in the 4th quarter with a 7-yard touchdown run, as the 7th-ranked Crimson Tide and 11th-ranked Tennessee went toe-to-toe in a defensive struggle at Neyland Stadium.
Saturday’s showdown turned into an old-school SEC defensive struggle, or some would say both teams were just playing bad offense. Regardless, Alabama led 7-0 at halftime, which isn’t a score you usually see at halftime of any college football game these days, let alone one involving 2 teams with such talent on offense.
But the sophomore Haynes finished off a 6-play, 75-yard drive with the 7-yard TD burst that gave Alabama a 17-14 lead with 13:56 left in the 4th quarter of the all-important game that will likely go a long way in determining who has the inside track on a College Football Playoff spot.
https://twitter.com/AlabamaFTBL/status/1847772634483929387
Haynes’ touchdown provided a quick answer to Tennessee’s touchdown by Dylan Sampson, his 2nd of the afternoon, with 1 minute left in the 3rd quarter that gave the Volunteers a very short-lived 14-10 lead.
But Alabama quickly went to work and took the lead right back early in the 4th, as Jalen Milroe hit Germie Bernard for 28 yards to set the Crimson Tide up at the Tennessee 7-yard line and set the stage for Haynes’ go-ahead TD.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
