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Saturday, October 23, 2021

Alabama-Tennessee rivalry still has a little mustard - AL.com

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They took the mustard from an Alabama tailgate and smuggled it into Bryant-Denny Stadium. Stole it, to be more specific. Total impulse decision.

We’re talking about Tennessee fans here, so uncontrollable misdemeanor-ing involving bottles of mustard is all part of the culture these days.

They’re sorry, they say, but not sorry.

Tennessee fans through and through, in other words.

Gotta take something from Alabama, right? In this rivalry, Tennessee hasn’t stolen a victory against Alabama since 2003. Alabama’s 52-24 win on Saturday night extended the Crimson Tide’s winning streak against the Volunteers to 15 in a row.

Nick Saban hasn’t lost to Tennessee since taking over at Alabama in 2007, and this latest victory marks the sixth coach at Tennessee during that time. The inglorious list: Phillip Fulmer, Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley, Butch Jones, Jeremy Pruitt and Josh Heupel.

The streak has lasted so long and Tennessee has become so desperate that Fulmer became the Tennessee athletics director and, gulp, hired a former Alabama assistant to replace a coach who then became an Alabama assistant to the assistants.

Brutal stuff.

Auburn has hung tough with Alabama during Saban’s run of dominance but the memory of Tennessee’s glory days are so long ago now that some of the players competing on this latest Third Saturday in October were in preschool the last time Tennessee tasted a victory cigar.

Tennessee scored more points against Alabama this time than it has since that 51-43 victory in 2003. Saban seemed concerned about his defense afterwards. There are things to clean up on the field, Saban noted, and, just to be clear, he meant mistakes and not actual trash.

“We got a real team we gotta play in two weeks,” Saban said.

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That wasn’t trash talk directed at Tennessee … we think. After an off week, and Saban’s 70th birthday on Oct.31, Alabama plays LSU on Nov.6.

Will Tennessee ever get the best of Saban? Probably not. Does that mean this is no longer a rivalry game? Heck no. Cigar smoke, per tradition, began filling the stadium before backup quarterback Paul Tyson even relieved starter Bryce Young.

Young is a talented player who’s not getting enough respect, but maybe after this latest performance that will begin to change. He rushed for two touchdowns, passed for two others, and was at his best in third-down situations. With Young calmly leading the offense, Alabama completed 15 of 20 third-down opportunities and that key stat turned what could have been a close game into another blowout for No.4 Alabama. Alabama’s players celebrated the victory by lighting up their cigars on the field after most of the stadium’s fans had cleared out.

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For Tennessee, never mind the winning and the cigars. The Volunteers are busy creating new traditions in losing. That’s the beauty of fandom in the craziest league in college sports … and also, sometimes, the curse.

The Tennessee merry pranksters who smuggled a bottle of mustard into Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday were Mikala Farrell, Samantha Burke, Catherine May and Payton Murphy. Tennessee students all, and pleasant as Pigeon Forge during a quick halftime interview.

Brave, too, because the low-down condiment crooks placed their totem of a trophy to Tennessee mustard mischief on the stone and brick barrier separating Alabama’s sacred field and the front row of the Tennessee student section. It was a brazen act of passive-aggressive Southern aggression, but mostly just funny.

All that mustard. All that possibility. What if there was another uncontrollable urge?

“We don’t litter,” Farrell said.

Um…

This week, you mean?

The mustard never made it onto the field, thankfully, and it was enveloped by celebratory cigar smoke before leaving the stadium with the students — a souvenir from a college road trip and now a memory of a lifetime.

If there is one constant about fans in the Southeastern Conference it is that their love of these games and their schools are always inspiring them to invent new traditions. Winning is optional. Passion is fundamental.

Why’d they do it?

Why steal mustard and smuggle it into Bryant-Denny Stadium one week after Tennessee students and other fans tossed so much trash onto the field of Neyland Stadium that officials had to stop the game for 15 minutes to protect the visiting sideline. Among the items that made it onto the field was, bizarrely enough, a bottle of mustard.

“We just hate the Tide,” one of them said. “They’re dirty.”

I mean, really, Catherine? Really?

Catherine said her and her friends were embarrassed for their university by the trash tossed onto Tennessee’s field, but they also understood why it happened. It wasn’t all about fans being angry over officiating, either, or Kiffin’s return to Tennessee with his new team, Ole Miss.

“It was really fun,” Murphy said. “It was the best environment we ever had.”

That’s life as a Tennessee fan during Saban’s reign of the SEC. Alabama can’t relate, but that doesn’t mean this rivalry isn’t still spicy. The last touchdown throw of the night by Young went to receiver John Metchie, and the quarterback made sure to put a little mustard on it.

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr. His first book, “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’,” is available on Nov.9.

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October 24, 2021 at 11:12AM
https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2021/10/alabama-tennessee-rivalry-still-has-a-little-mustard.html

Alabama-Tennessee rivalry still has a little mustard - AL.com

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