Tennessee Changed Original Play Call on Zabien Brown's Interception Return

Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel shared that his team made the decision to go with a play-action pass to end the first half after Alabama called a timeout.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel talks with Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar (6) during a college football game between Tennessee and Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Oct. 18, 2025. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The No. 6 Alabama football team had a 16-7 lead with nine seconds to go in the first half of its eventual 37-20 victory against No. 11 Tennessee on Saturday night. However, the Volunteers were threatening, having marched the football all the way down to the one.

The visitors went with a play-action pass on the half's final snap, and quarterback Joey Aguilar tried to find tight end Miles Kitselman for a touchdown. Sophomore Alabama cornerback Zabien Brown intercepted the ball and ran it back 99 yards for a touchdown.

Rather than a halftime score of 16-14, or even 16-10 (had the Volunteers opted for the safer route of trying a short field goal), Tennessee went into the break down 23-7. The Volunteers scored the first points of the second half, but it was never a one-possession game after the Crimson Tide stretched its 9-7 advantage to 16-7 with a Jam Miller touchdown late in the second quarter.

"Ultimately, we've gotta be on the right side of it," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said postgame. "Gotta be accurate with the ball. If it's not [there], throw it away. We've got one more play. That's not me putting it on Joey, either. It's all of us."

The Crimson Tide (6-1, 4-0 SEC), which has won against four ranked opponents in a row, had something in the moments preceding the turnover that Tennessee did not: a timeout. Alabama called for a stoppage in play before the Volunteers snapped the ball, and that decision had huge ramifications: Tennessee's staff changed its original play call.

"We made that choice after the timeout," Heupel said. He did not further explain what play the Volunteers (5-2, 2-2 SEC) might have had in mind if it weren't for Alabama calling said timeout. Pure hindsight suggests that, if given the opportunity to be present in that situation again, Heupel and his staff would have dialed something else up.

Running back DeSean Bishop almost caught Brown on the tail end of the interception return, which would have prevented a score of any kind because there were zeroes on the game clock. He placed blame for the sequence on himself for not having scored during the previous play, when he gained one yard on a handoff.

"Should've probably got in the first time. I missed a cut before that [the interception]," Bishop said. "I was right there. I was more beat up that I didn't get him than the pick itself. Because I was right there. It goes, just, to show that we all gotta do our part. I've gotta come up and make that play."

Hypotheticals are a pitfall in the sense that they change nothing about an actual result. Such is the case for the Volunteers. A different play could have been called, but it wasn't. A field goal could have been tried, but it wasn't. Bishop (who had a nice game, posting 123 yards on the ground and two scores) nearly tackled Brown; he didn't.

As it stands, Tennessee still has not claimed a victory inside Bryant-Denny Stadium since 2003. Heupel's coaching career had not started yet. Despite last season's Third Saturday in October win, the Volunteers fell short of a repeat this year, with Brown's interception serving as the game's key moment.