The celebration will run through into the early morning hours in Knoxville, the emotion was raw in Salt Lake, and it took two overtime’s in Fort Worth to settle the score.
A weekend that provided three ranked matchups with undefeated teams midway through the season could be seen as an early Christmas present for college football fans. After game one of the three was over when it hit started with Michigan steam rolling tenth ranked Penn State 41-17, the thought could have come that they other two games would be more of the same. They were not..
Tennessee got off to a blistering start against the Tide, taking a 21-7 first quarter lead. Though, Bama being Bama, they did not go away quietly and this one went down to the final seconds to decide things.
With things tied up at 42 with under eight minutes to play and possession in the hands of the Vols, a miscue on a handoff between Hendon Hooker and Jabari Small turned into disaster. Dallas Turner picked up the fumble at the 11-yard line and took it in untouched for the Tide to take a 49-42 lead.
Hooker would avenge the mistake on the ensuing possession, leading a methodical 11-play 75-yard scoring drive. After eating up over four minutes of game clock, Hooker would cap the drive with a 13-yard TD pass to Janin Hyatt with 3:26 left to play to tie things up at 49.
Alabama, led by defending Heisman winner, Bryce Young, would then return the favor, marching the Tide down into scoring position. However, after getting down to the Tennessee 32 yard line, three consecutive incomplete passes from Young would force Bama to settle for a 50-yard field goal try from Senior kicker Will Reichard with 21-seconds left to play.
The kick would sail wide-right and the Vols took over 1st and 10 at their own 32-yard line with 15-seconds and two timeouts life. Thinking overtime? Think again…
Hooker connected with Ramel Keyton for a quick 18 yard completion and then the timeout was called with nine-seconds left to play. With the ball at midfield, Hooker took the snap and zipped one over the middle 27-yards downfield where Bru McCoy was able to haul it in and the Vols final timeout was called with two-seconds left to play.
This setup a 40-yard field goal for Senior Chase McGrath. And despite a Saban ice attempt, McGrath kicked a knuckle-ball of a field goal and it went through the uprights, ending a 15 game losing streak to Alabama. Pandemonium ensued as the field was filled with a sea of cheering orange, and the goal posts came down with one taking a swim in the Tennessee River.
All the while, when this was going on, 13th ranked TCU had pulled out a second overtime thriller against eighth ranked Oklahoma State. This came as the Horned Frogs were down 30-16 going into the fourth quarter. The win made them the lone remaining undefeated team in the Big 12 and put themselves in prime position to be a contender for a Playoff spot, should their trend continue.
If that wasn’t enough to get your adrenaline pumping, the PAC-12 night cap of seventh ranked USC and 20th ranked Utah did not disappoint!
After a missed field goal and a 14-point deficit to start the game, the Utes were able to turn things into a game by halftime, trailing 28-21 to the Trojans. To open the second half, Utah marched right down the field as Cameron Rising led the charge on a 75-yard, seven-play drive to tie things up at 28.
After a back and forth 2nd half, Caleb Williams would lead an 11-play 90-yard drive, capping things off with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jackson III. This left 6:15 on the clock and gave the Trojans a 42-35 lead over the Utes.
Then came the longest drive of the game for either team. A 15-play, 75-yard scoring drive that are 5:27 off the clock and saw its conclusion on a 1-yard rushing TD from Rising. Then came the decision to go for the win by head coach Kyle Whittingham. Rising would again see his number called as he took the QB keeper in for the two-point conversion to make it a 43-42 advantage for Utah.
With 48-seconds left, it would take a Tennessee-esk performance to put the Trojans back on top. That would not be in the cards though, as USC wouldn’t advance past midfield and their undefeated season went to the wayside and the Utes kept their PAC-12 title hopes alive.
Week seven saw eight top 25 teams take losses, with six of them taking their losses to fellow ranked opponents. It was the end of James Madison’s Cinderella startup, after losing to Georgia Southern and meanwhile, the top ranked Bulldogs stayed perfect with a smoke session, Fort Benning style, on Vandy for a 55-0 win.