Ad Disclosure
Throwback Thursday: Tennessee needs five overtimes in last win at Tuscaloosa
By Pat Donohue
Published:
Tennessee and Alabama will meet this Saturday for the 97th time, but the Crimson Tide have won the last eight games between the two schools, including the last five in Tuscaloosa.
But the last time the Volunteers won on the road at Alabama was Oct. 25, 2003, and it was a wild one that took five overtimes to settle.
“The Alabama-Tennessee rivalry still packs quite a punch,” the Associated Press wrote after Tennessee won the 51-43 thriller.
With the victory, the Volunteers became the first team to win three consecutive games at Bryant-Denny Stadium and also snapped their two-game losing streak that season to put Phillip Fulmer’s squad at 5-2.
This was before the days of Nick Saban and all the recent success at Alabama, and the loss resulted in Mike Shula’s Crimson Tide dropping five of their last six games, twice in overtime, and falling to 3-6 on the year.
Oddly enough, Alabama led this high-scoring affair 6-3 at halftime, mostly thanks to Tennessee’s 3 fumbles in the first quarter. But then both teams’ offenses exploded in the second half.
Casey Clausen (Tennessee) and Brodie Croyle (Alabama) were the two quarterbacks that were going at it in this contest, and both passers had 2 touchdown passes entering the fifth and final overtime period.
Neither quarterback was having a particularly good day early on. In fact, Clausen had only completed 2 passes in the second half before taking over down 20-13 with 1:52 left on the clock.
Clausen then connected on 6 of 8 passes for 81 yards and finished off the game-tying drive by throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to fullback Troy Fleming with 25 seconds left.
But it was Clausen’s 1-yard touchdown run in the fifth overtime that sealed the victory for the Volunteers. Tennessee running back Corey Larkins started the final drive with 3 carries for 20 yards before an Alabama offsides penalty set up the Volunteers with a third-and-2 from inside the Crimson Tide 5-yard line.
Clausen then took a bootleg right and dove for the end zone but came up just short of the goal line. However, he did get enough to pick up the first down for Tennessee. Clausen punched it in on the next play, and then hit wide receiver James Banks for the 2-point conversion because the NCAA mandates that teams must go for two following a touchdown after two overtimes.
After the game, in which he finished 23-for-43 for 283 yards and 4 touchdowns, Clausen said he never doubted his team’s ability to pull it out.
“I’m always confident,” Clausen said. “No. 1, you’ve got to believe in yourself. No. 2, you’ve got to believe in your teammates.”
Clausen’s coach also had some nice things to say about him after his heroic performance.
“There’s not a tougher-minded quarterback in the country than Casey Clausen, mentally and physically,” Fulmer said. “There’s no question if there’s time left on the clock, he’s going to have a chance to win.”
Pat Donohue is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter @SportsDownPat.
