Over the weekend, Tennessee college football fans witnessed a huge win. With a final score of 52-49, the Tennessee Volunteers, led by Quarterback Hendon Hooker, pulled off a crazy upset over the Alabama Crimson Tide. Tennessee hadn’t won a match against Alabama since 2006.
Hooker put on a show for fans, completing 21 passes for 385 yards. He threw for five touchdowns while also throwing only one interception. All five of those touchdown passes were thrown to wide receiver Jalin Hyatt. Hyatt had a monster performance, catching six passes for 207 yards on top of those five receiving touchdowns.
Bryce Young, quarterback for Alabama and last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, was recovering from a shoulder injury that prevented him from playing in the previous week’s game. Young had a pretty solid performance against Tennessee, however, completing 35 passes for 455 yards and two touchdown passes.
With under a minute left, Alabama had a chance to take the lead with a 50-yard field goal, but Alabama’s kicker, Will Reichard, missed. Tennessee then drove 45 yards in only 13 seconds to help set up a 40-yard field goal for kicker Chase McGrath.
After a wobbly kick by McGrath right at the end of regulation, Tennessee took the victory. Fans immediately stormed the field to celebrate the remarkable win by their football team. They didn’t stop there.
Fans proceeded to take the goalposts from the stadium and march them around the town of Knoxville. The posts eventually found their way into the Tennessee River. After the remarkable win, the previously sixth-ranked Tennessee team was able to move up to the third-ranked school in the nation. Alabama, previously ranked third, moved down to six.
The win allowed Tennessee to stay undefeated, while the loss was the first for Alabama. Tennessee will play TN-Martin this weekend followed by Kentucky on Oct. 29. They will then have a matchup with Georgia, last year’s national championship winner and the current first-ranked school.
