'It’s like Coach (Bear) Bryant used to say, ‘you don’t know what type of team you have until you line up against the Big Orange,'' former Alabama running back Siran Stacy says. 'You just knew it was a game that could make or break your season.' 🏈
Siran Stacy now lives outside of Nashville, which is perhaps fitting, because in college he made his living off of Tennessee.
“There was just so much excitement throughout the whole week. We’d have ‘Rocky Top’ playing in the football complex, on the practice field, in the locker room and even in the dorm. By the time Saturday rolled around, you had a real disdain for Tennessee.”Alabama came into the 1989 Tennessee game ranked 10th in the country, 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the SEC.
“Tennessee was talking so much trash in that game,” said Roger Shultz, Alabama’s All-SEC center in 1989. “Their last loss had been to us in ‘88, and they were talking about how they were going to get us back for that. They were ‘big-timing’ us.” “By the time I got back to the dorm, my roommate, David Montgomery, was standing and waiting on me and had his hands up in the air like ‘what are we gonna do?’ It had just been reported on the radio. … When Reggie was gone, it was like somebody sucked all of the oxygen out of the classroom buildings.”
Hollingsworth took the snap from Shultz and dropped back, then delivered a backhanded “shovel” pass to Stacy. The Crimson Tide tailback followed two blockers through the line of scrimmage, cut to midfield and was gone for a 75-yard touchdown and a 16-7 Alabama lead after the extra point was blocked. After Tennessee added Andy Kelly’s 33-yard TD pass to Anthony Morgan to make it 16-14, Doyle booted a 22-yard field goal on the final play of the half to put the Crimson Tide up by five at the break. Alabama scored on its opening possession of the third quarter when Hollingsworth hit Marco Battle on an 11-yard touchdown, then converted a Tennessee fumble on the ensuing kickoff into Stacy’s 5-yard scoring run and a 33-14 lead.
Alabama rolled up 562 yards and 32 first downs in the game, with Hollingsworth and Stacy setting numerous program records. Hollingsworth’s 32 completions were the most in school history, while his 379 passing yards were second-most at the time.
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