Cary Clark's Greatest Games: 2009 Tennessee
Mount Cody's big left hand kept Alabama (No. 2 BCS, No. 1 AP) perfect with a pair of super-sized plays on special teams back on Oct. 24, 2009.
Terrence Cody, the Crimson Tide's 350-pound nose guard, blocked a 44-yard field-goal attempt on the final play -- his second block of the fourth quarter -- and Alabama escaped with a 12-10 victory over rival Tennessee on that Saturday.
Cody simply muscled the Tide to another win, with pure brute force.
"I didn't really get off the ground," Cody said. "I just reached my arm up. That's how I got it. I knocked [the blocker] back. He was on his back."
Alabama (8-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) was about to have its bid for perfection knocked down, too.
Then Cody broke through the line on the last play and practically ran into Daniel Lincoln's low kick. Relieved Alabama fans chanted "Cody!" as the All-American ambled toward the locker room.
Lincoln had a muscle pull in his right and kicking leg. It affected his lift. It mattered.
Leigh Tiffin booted four field goals -- including a 50-yarder and a 49-yarder -- to provide all Alabama's points and the Crimson Tide survived Mark Ingram's first college fumble and some problems for the nation's top defense. The last few minutes were all about survival and advancement.
"You talk about how fragile a season is," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. "You're controlling a game, even though you may say it's winning ugly. We're still ahead 12-3 and totally controlling the game with 3 minutes, 29 seconds and the ball. That's how fragile a season can be. You make one mistake and you have to go overcome it. I hope that there's a lot of lessons our team can learn from this."
