VOLS ROLL TIDE FOR 10TH TIME IN LAST 12 SERIES GAMES DESPITE POOR OFFICIATING

Despite the fact that Alabama got virtually all of the officiating calls that were made going their way, even those that were reviewed upstairs, it was not enough for the biggest cheaters in Southeastern Conference football history to beat Tennessee Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, as UT won, 16-13. It was a glorious afternoon with perfect football weather on the Third Saturday in October, which ought to be declared a National College Football Holiday for the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains setting in which it is played, if for no other reason.

The slave traders, who have bought players for years, starting in the Bear Bryant years, and who have had all of their so-called "championship" tainted as a result, couldn't compete on a level playing field with UT. They were held to a mere 53 yards rushing and only 158 yards passing, both lows for the season. The Tide managed only 11 first downs in the game, and only got 3 of those rushing. They converted only one of 10 third downs after the first quarter, as the Vol defense was magnificent.

Bama Head Coach Mike Shula once again left Neyland Stadium a loser, now having lost twice in his only two visits as a coach. Tennessee played a terrible game overall on offense, but even though they yielded 3 interceptions, none of them got turned into points by the inept Alabama offense.

The Vols have now won 10 of the last 12 in this storied series that dates back to 1901 and is used as the measuring stick for supremacy in the SEC. Now that the team in Crimson is having to play by the rules, they simply don't have the horses to stay with UT.

The officiating was downright deplorable. A pass interference call against Bama was waived off for no apparent reason. A blatant late hit on UT Wide Receiver Robert Meachem was ignored. A reception that Meachem had was denied, even after CBS-TV replays in high definition showed he clearly caught the ball. A third play involving Meachem denied him a first down, even though he clearly was beyond the first down marker with his forward progress. A touchdown catch by WR Bret Smith was denied, even though those same replays clearly showed both the ball and Smith's knee crossed the goalline plane.

This game was more evidence that crime doesn't pay. The Tide, even on their best day and on an emotional high, simply couldn't make the plays when it needed to do so. It is only a matter of time until they cheat even more to try to get back on top.

Mal Moore, the Alabama Athletics Director who should have been fired long ago if the school was serious about playing by the rules, who was one of convicted slave trader Logan Young's biggest friends by his own admission, was standing in the south tunnel as the game wound down, the first Tider to head to the visiting team locker room. He watched the last 3 minutes of the game from there, when Neyland was as loud as it has ever been.

As long as Mal Moore is the AD at Bama, there will always be a culture of cheating that pervades that whole department of the university. He allowed it to happened and participated in the coverups of it. The NCAA probation report was crying out for him to be fired. The NCAA has no power to order Bama to fire anyone in the athletic administration, but the sanctions were heavier because they chose to keep Mal as AD and chose to keep gambling magnate Paul Bryant, Jr., as their main trustee, in charge of selecting coaches, a la Mike Price. Bama remains an embarrassment and a black eye to the whole SEC and all of college football. They will never be able to compete for championships without cheating. Undoubtedly, they will go on probation again at a minimum.

Yes, justice is sweet. Tennessee owns Bama. UT will most likely win 10 of the next 12, too. Vol fans just wish Logan and the Bear were still around to see it. Perhaps they are, and are spinning in their graves.

Bear Bryant spawned a culture of cheating that has resulted in the longest NCAA probation ever handed down against an SEC school and very nearly resulted in the Death Penalty. He openly admitted his longstanding cheating and buying of players in his book about his life and times as head coach at Texas A&M prior to coming to Alabama. Bear fixed games with Wally Butts at Georgia and was caught redhanded doing it. Logan Young once boasted publicly that Bryant taught him everything he knew about buying players. The culture led to Bama having to forfeit all of its games as recently as 1993 for having knowingly started an ineligible player in every game under Bear's prime protege from the A&M days, Gene Stallings, who was one of his successors as head coach in Tuscaloser.

The series between the two bitter rivals is now tied at 20 games each in Knoxville. While Alabama will always have a 7-game edge in Birmingham due to the fact that the Bear cheated to win so many of his big games there and the game is no longer played at Legion Field, Tennessee has an edge in Tuscaloser by one game, 4-3, a margin that is sure to expand in the years ahead.

In the big Tennessee win in Tuscaloser in 1928, UT's "Flaming Sophomore", Gene "Wild Bull" McEver, ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown enroute to the 15-13 Big Orange victory. That put Vol football on the map for good. Before that one, arrogant Bama fans were wagering that Alabama would get more touchdowns than Tennessee got first downs. Their legendary arrogance has been ridiculed to the point now that it is actually amusing to listen to their ridiculous assertions.

No longer will Alabama arrogantly claim to rule the SEC. Their fans proved how classless they truly are Saturday evening when they were chanting while UT Running Bank LaMarcus Coker was down on the playing field with a serious injury that may cause him to miss the rest of the season. They simply can't stand to lose with dignity and have denigrated what was once a proud tradition before Bear and his cheating successors took over.

Bama used to have a modicum of respect among their peers. Now they have none. It is only a matter of time until they get themselves put on probation for recruiting violations again. It is the only way they know to truly compete. They have been relegated to also-ran status in the SEC West, and it will be years before they ever play for a championship of any kind unless it's something like Music City Bowl champions.

Tennessee, on the other hand, has won more league games than any other conference member in the last decade. They've also won more than any other SEC school in the past 20 years. They have more players in the NFL than any other SEC institution. They have won more games overall than any school in America since 1926, when General Neyland took over on The Hill. They have far supplanted Bama as the class of the Southeast and of the college football world.