BlogVibe

Tennessee has floated for a year after last season's Dixieland Delightful upset of Alabama in Neyland Stadium, and after the Vols built a 20-7 halftime lead, it looked like one of the streakiest series in the country could see the start of another one.

But then Alabama woke up in every facet of the game, roaring back from the deficit to score 27 unanswered second-half points in a 34-20 comeback win.

"It's always great to beat Tennessee," Nick Saban told CBS after the game, also mentioning the tradition of smoking a postgame cigar after a win, "I'll chew on one for a while," even though he doesn't like smoking them.

A Jase McClellan 29-yard scamper followed by a Jalen Milroe-to-Isaiah Bond 46-yard scoring strike started the second half off for the Tide, and they never looked back. Then, still leading by three in the third quarter, Vols coach Josh Heupel inexplicably went for it on 4th-and-1 from his own 47 and failed to make it.

Alabama took it down, scored a touchdown, added a scoop-and-score and dominated.

Maligned Milroe found his stride. McClellan led a rejuvenated running game that had just 16 yards on the ground at the break but followed it up with 68 in the third quarter in a 17-0 frame. The defense smothered Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton after his best half of the year, too.

Tennessee just collapsed—on both sides of the ball and on the sideline. Heupel coached like the Vols were losing when they were ahead, and Tennessee played like it didn't expect to win in Tuscaloosa.

Saban is a master in revenge games, and he made sure there wasn't a repeat of last year's Rocky Top revival with a terrific second half in which the Tide did everything right and Tennessee fell apart.

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