In America, the winner takes all.

Chapter 193 Reply (22)

This interception brought a lot of uncertainty to the game.

The expressions of the Alabama players began to become nervous. Ethan looked at the huge time board at the bottom of the big screen. There were still 6 and a half minutes left before the end of the game.

And when Ethan walked out of bounds and came to the bench, including head coach Eugene, offensive coordinator Woody, defensive coordinator Mike Dubose, special teams coach Danny Pillman, secondary coach Curley... a large number of People surrounded Ethan.

Just from this reaction, you can tell how nervous they are.

"Ethan, come on, we believe you." Danny Pillman directly picked up Ethan's right thigh and relaxed his muscles.

"Ethan, now the team has reached the most critical moment, and only you can save everything." Offensive coordinator Woody also hugged Ethan's left thigh.

"Ethan, there are still 6 minutes left in the game. We still have about one or two offensive opportunities." Eugene Sterlings said.

"Tennessee marked me very seriously..." Ethan still looked more at his teammates.

Peyton Manning has two right-hand men, Joey Kent and Jay Graham, on his side. On his own side, Sean Alexander is obviously out of shape today. It can be seen from his performance in the first half that under Woody In the original tactics, Sean should have been the protagonist of the offense in the first half, but his continuous running of the ball did not bring many opportunities to the Crimson Tide.

As for Michael Vaughn, there is also a certain gap with Tennessee's Joey Kent.

If it was in the later stages of high school, Ethan would have been able to ride alone, because compared to his opponents at the time, Ethan's physical fitness was enough to crush him.

But in college, Ethan still does not have the physical condition to completely crush his opponents...

Ethan did not continue to have the coaches around him, but asked a few people to prepare the tactics for the next most critical round.

At the same time, Ethan looked towards the sidelines.

Different from the offensive team, the defensive team is still worthy of Ethan's trust.Tennessee's push seemed particularly difficult.

Peyton Manning's passing is already very fast, and he is executing blitz tactics from beginning to end, which is different from Alabama's current mainstream tactics.At present, Alabama is completely based on Eason as the fulcrum, and many arrangements and offensive lines are proposed by Eason.In terms of style, his ball release time is often a few seconds slower, and it is more of an option tactic.

At present, it seems that Tennessee has no intention of changing its tactical style.And Ethan was also keenly aware of the problem his teammates had - excessive physical exertion.

Compared with the beginning of the game, most of the defensive players, including the two cornerbacks Fernando Bryant and Deshia Townsend, and linebacker Dwayne Rudd, began to move slower. .

Especially Fernando Bryant and Deshia Townsend, who focus on the slot. They face the most flexible wide receivers in the Tennessee team, and the running distance per defense is also the most among all defensive players. of.

If the two of them were not experienced in many battles, they would have collapsed by now, but even so, their steps still became heavy.

Tight nerves, fierce confrontation, the opponent's agility, and the disadvantage of being in an away game, all of this is gradually accumulating...

Finally the moment of collapse came.

At this time, Tennessee had advanced to the midfield distance. In the second attack, Tennessee's full defender accelerated with all its strength and stood directly between Fernando Bryant and the opponent's wide receiver Joey Kent. At the same time, Joe Ikent has distanced himself, and there are no defenders around him anymore.

This was the first time in this game that Fernando Bryant was out of position, but it was this loss of position that immediately cost Alabama.

Peyton Manning had quick eyes and hands, and without any hesitation, he threw the football steadily to Joey Kent.

It was too late for the linebacker to get back on defense. After holding the ball, Joey Kent ran all the way. With his -yard time of seconds, he ran at full speed and no one could catch up.

In the end, Joey Kent used his speed to surpass everyone and complete the touchdown.

Tennessee's second-tier home stadium suddenly went into a frenzy.

"Could it be that, as Philip Fulmer said last year, Tennessee blew the clarion call for a counterattack?" the commentator couldn't help but ask.

From to , Tennessee lost the "Third Planet Six in October" for ten consecutive years. Philip Fulmer took over as Tennessee's head coach in . , he overhauled and rebuilt the Tennessee Volunteers before finally taking over for three years, and with Peyton Manning filling in the final piece of the puzzle, Tennessee beat Alabama last year.

In fact, Phillip Fulmer had developed a lesson against Alabama that would allow him to win % against Alabama for the next nine years.

At this time, looking at the players and colleagues cheering and celebrating together, Philip Fulmer, who was wearing an orange jacket in the camera, was not very excited. He was obviously preparing to overtake the score in the next game.

"This is our last chance, I believe you can do it." Eugene said to everyone before the offensive team took the field.

Ethan looked at the teammates around him. Everyone had experienced a journey from heaven to hell, and almost everyone's expressions looked very solemn.

When he walked into the stadium, Ethan saw the audience wildly dancing with orange flocculent "shakers" in their hands. The entire stadium had turned into a sea of ​​orange. The accumulated sound from the spectators at the scene was almost overwhelming. Ethan couldn't hear clearly the words of his teammates around him.

On the contrary, Ethan is the most calm one of the group. Although the first two attacks in the first round were not successful, he relied on his extremely accurate cruise missile long pass in the third gear to provide Alabama with Got the first shot.

On this shot, Michael Vaughn almost made the same move as he did in the first quarter. His whole body jumped while running at extremely high speed. At that moment, his whole body almost flew out diagonally, which was in sharp contrast to the failure in the first quarter. This time Michael Vaughn got the ball before the opposing cornerback did.

It was this catch that gave Alabama hope again. At this time, all the Alabama players had stood in a row on the sidelines, covering the entire sideline from beginning to end. The situation on the opposite side of Tennessee was similar.

On the first offense at the 45-yard line, before Ethan could get the ball to him from the center, he heard the referee's whistle. At the same time, three people on the opposite front line defensive team pointed at Alabama's left tackle. , while looking at the referee.

"If you move early, you will be punished by five yards!"

The left tackle who moved early seemed very innocent, but the fact is that he did move before the kickoff.

So Alabama could only retreat.The first attack yardage also changed from ten yards to fifteen yards.In other words, it will be very difficult for Alabama to get a new round of offense.

To make matters worse, not only did the first-level wide receiver make a mistake in catching the ball, but the second-level offensive player who provided running ball coverage committed a mask-pulling foul.

This gave Alabama ten more yards on first down, and it required 25 yards in four plays to get another drive.

That's no small feat, especially now that Tennessee is taking extra care to limit Eason and the receivers.

Ethan could only try to attack from the deep end, but failed several times, and finally had no choice but to give up the ball again.

When Tennessee completed its return, there were three minutes and 11 seconds left in the game.

Back off the court this time, Eugene has already begun preparations for overtime.Ethan saw Peyton Manning walking onto the field, but the next second he saw him suddenly turning back and looking at him from a distance.

This is the first time the two have made eye contact since the start of the game.

Payton raised his hand and made a shooting gesture towards Ethan. Obviously he thought he would win the game.

As top college quarterbacks, neither Ethan, Payton, nor anyone else rarely engages in such provocative behavior in the game.

After all, what a quarterback needs most is a calm mind.

Peyton Manning, who was born in a football family, certainly understands the importance of a calm mind.

But...he couldn't wait to see Ethan's disgraced face.

At this time, the voice of defensive coordinator Mike DuBose came to Ethan's ear again.

In every lecture he gave to the defensive team, one name appeared - Peyton Manning.

It can be said that the pressure and restrictions on him continued throughout the game.

Ethan looked further away. Several Tennessee coaches were standing together, looking very calm.

Ethan vaguely felt that the other party was planning something. Of course, this was not a conspiracy, but a tactical preparation for the game.

As soon as the game resumed, Peyton Manning threw another fast long pass. Joey Kent missed the ball by a hair and almost caught the ball firmly, but finally let go of the football in his hands.

In the second gear, Peyton Manning did not pass the ball, but chose to pass it to the running back Jay Graham behind him. At the same time, the defensive front had already helped the running back open the gap, and he was the first to rush through the gap. What came out was not a running back, but a fullback. He collided with linebacker Dwayne Rudd, who always kept his task of running defense in mind and played brilliantly in the first half, helping running back Jay Graham intercepted the biggest obstacle.

Jay, who followed the full-back and rushed across the front line, dodged and opened his position. There was already a gap in front of him, and he shot straight out of the middle.

Tennessee showed off its deadly weapon - Jay Graham's running ball.

The two cornerbacks who wanted to fill in were interfered by the Tennessee wide receivers. The teammates who followed began to provide cover for Jay Graham. Even Peyton Manning rushed forward and held down the Alabama defender. .

With the close cooperation of the entire Tennessee team, Jay Graham ran unimpeded, rushed into the zone, rushed out of the zone, rushed to the edge of the stands, and raised his arms and shouted at the audience.

"The Tennessee players can embrace each other as much as they want. They deserve to do so. They did not give up in a difficult match against a strong opponent and gradually recovered the score with only 2 minutes left before the end of the game. At the right time, we successfully completed the overtake!”

"That's Jay Graham, he completed a 75-yard touchdown run! His sister Kim Graham won the gold medal in the 4*400 meters at the Atlanta Olympics two years ago! Obviously Jay also has the same ability With gold medal genes, he runs like a strong wind..."

"We saw Ethan O'Connor standing on the edge of the field with his hands on his hips. He was wearing a helmet. We couldn't see his face clearly, but he must have felt uncomfortable inside. This talented man has to accept an unforgettable defeat today. Today Tennessee's coverage of Ethan was also very successful. This is football, no one can win all the time..." The frontline commentator more or less directly pronounced Alabama's death sentence.

As the PAT and return attack ended, Alabama trailed its opponent 2-13 in the final 20 minutes.

Eason also came in on what was probably the final kickback, but it didn't work. Tennessee's kicker was almost aiming in the opposite direction of him, even if it would give Alabama more yards on the return. Nor was he willing to let Ethan get the ball.

At this time, Ethan looked at his teammates around him. If his teammates were extremely uneasy and anxious before, now his teammates were already ashen-faced. With Ethan being double-teamed like this, everyone knew that this time Alabama There is no way to save the day.

Even Eugene and Woody in the headsets were silent for a long time.

"Ethan, what tactic do you want to choose?" In the end, Woody was the first to speak.

"I think the opponent's running tactics are good." Ethan said.

·
"At this time, Alabama still chose a lineup with multiple receivers. I don't know if Ethan can create a miracle this time. Now the game has officially resumed. Ethan held the ball, and he chose to observe, making a long pass with a large number of yards, looking for Michael Vaughan near the touchline...It's a pity that although Michael tried his best to jump up, he still couldn't reach the ball..."

The atmosphere at the game began to reach its peak. Last year, Tennessee defeated its old rival at Alabama's first-level home court and has since won seven consecutive games.

And this year, Tennessee defeated Alabama again on its doorstep!Many spectators at the scene have already begun to imagine that Tennessee will maintain a winning streak and finally succeed in winning the SEC championship.

Compared to Alabama, Tennessee also has a strong college football atmosphere.

But as the second period began, everyone in the audience rooting for Tennessee fell into a dead silence.

After holding the ball this time, Ethan chose to observe the situation in the backcourt as before, and now his hand was raised.

At this moment, every Alabama wide receiver is surrounded by at least one defender, and in addition to the two defensive backs trailing behind, the linebackers are also drawing attention.

At this critical moment, Ethan started. Almost at the same time, tight end Rod Rutledge's route also became abnormal. Instead of detouring to the outside, he chose to cut inside and run directly to the line. Wei rushed over.

The offensive line also worked together. The right guard and right tackle roared and pulled the opposing defensive end and defensive tackle apart, creating a gap in the front line!
And Ethan came out of this hole. He chose the same tactics as Tennessee. The difference was that he did not have a running back beside him, but ran the ball himself.

The linebacker who wanted to cover the position was also successfully intercepted by tight end Rod Rutledge, and Eason bypassed the pick-and-roll position.

Compared with the previous physical assault, Ethan mostly cooperated with his teammates. The reason is very simple, this can ensure speed.

Previously it was Red Lightning at Alabama's home game, but this time it was White Lightning on the road.

In the same running game as Tennessee, teammates also provided cover for Eason.

All Tennessee players tried to block.

However, no one could catch up with Ethan.

"Ethan's full sprint speed is no slower than Joey, or even faster!" The frontline commentator was somewhat speechless.I was speechless for a while.

If Jay has the "gold medal gene", then Ethan also has it and can even run faster than Jay.

After rushing into the formation this time, there was no grand celebration like the other party.

He just glanced at the time, and then said very calmly to his teammates: "We choose the two-point conversion."

(End of this chapter)