As Mike Dean stood at the 25-yard line at Neyland Stadium, Jimmy Weatherford called out to Nick Showalter.

Five seconds remained in a one-point game and the outcome would be decided off of the foot of Dean—the Alabama kicker who was about to become part of Third Saturday in October lore in one way or another.

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As it turned out, Weatherford’s hand would decide it too. He called his own number before the game-deciding boot, switching places with Showalter and lining out wider than usual.

Weatherford rushed in, laid out and got his hands on the ball, which continued forward but landed harmlessly in the hands of Mike Jones around 15 yards down field.

The final seconds ticked off the clock as Jones ran down the sideline. He was knocked out of bounds and into the arms of his coach , Doug Dickey, the first to greet him before an orange-clad mass of humanity swarmed around him.

Tennessee had beaten the Crimson Tide, 10-9–the Vols’ second-straight victory over their most hated rival and they did it in the most dramatic way possible.

“And as the breaks of the game gave the Tide a one-point victory in Knoxville two years ago, fickle fate blunted a great comeback this time and left the Volunteers in hot contention for another Southeastern Conference championship,” Marvin West pinned in the Knoxville News-Sentinel the following day.

The breaks did go Tennessee’s way this time, and in those immortal words of the Vols’ iconic football savant General Robert R. Neyland, they made some of them, too.

Weatherford’s decision to swap spots with Showalter was one.

“I just thought it was a good idea,” Weatherford told reporters after the game.

Weatherford was in on a stop that included Jack Reynolds, Bill Young and Neal McMeans that ended a promising Alabama drive in a field goal.

Richmond Flowers, an Alabama native, led both teams with 74 rushing yards, and scored the Vols’ only touchdown with a tough, hard-nosed run at the goal line on fourth down to put Tennessee up after its opening drive.

Karl Kremser broke a then-program record with a 54-yard field goal that added to the Vols’ lead. The rest of the day was headlined by their stellar defense and a gutsy decision from Bear Bryant that didn’t pay off.

It came after the Crimson Tide’s lone touchdown, a fourth down touchdown toss from Hunter Scott to Donnie Sutton to cap an 80-yard drive with 1:12 left.

Alabama was within one, but Bryant wanted the lead, so the Crimson Tide went for two. The attempt failed when Jim Kelley missed Sutton in the end zone.

But those breaks, the kind that cost Tennessee two years before, went Alabama’s way again on a desperation onside kick that bounced in between Steve Kiner and Dave Filson. Norris Hamer followed and jumped on top of it.

The Crimson Tide, somehow, had life again.

The soldout crowd of 63,392 were on edge as Scott had the ball in his hands again. They were even more so when Scott went deep to Sutton.

He missed him by the finger tips, but moved the ball quickly after that. Scott linked up with Danny Ford for 17 yards. Another pass to Sutton had Alabama at the 25.

It came down to the kick, the one that Weatherford, who had drawn inspiration from a similar play on a Georgia Tech field goal one week before, made the play that turned certain heartbreak into a Tennessee finish for the ages.

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