The Tennessee Volunteers got way too cute on the final play of the first half during Saturday’s game against the Alabama Crimson Tide, and they wound up paying dearly for it.
The Volunteers had the ball at the Alabama 1-yard line with eight seconds left before halftime in Saturday’s game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Vols had no timeouts remaining and had goal to go, so they pretty much had to pass if they wanted to leave themselves a chance to kick a field goal in the event that they failed to convert.
Despite that, the Volunteers decided to run a playaction pass that no one fell for, and quarterback Joey Aguilar was intercepted when Alabama’s Zabien Brown jumped the route and went 99 yards the other way for a touchdown.
ALABAMA 99-YD PICK SIX TO END THE HALF 🤯
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 19, 2025
(via @AlabamaFTBL)pic.twitter.com/rodyvr0VPU
The playaction pass here did not fool anyone. The Volunteers simply did not have the option to run. All it wound up doing was costing Tennessee time to get the short-yardage play off when they already had very little space to work with.
Tennessee may not have won either way, but the decision changed the course of the game. Instead of a one-score contest at halftime, Alabama went into the locker room up 23-7 and wound up winning 37-20.
The Tennessee-Alabama game is a huge rivalry, and one that Vols coach Josh Heupel has won before. Perhaps he thought he could author a signature moment here. He did, but in Alabama’s favor.
