'Rocky Block' Super-Sized

Last Saturday could have been enshrined as three and a half of the greatest minutes in Tennessee football lore. Instead, it ended with a low trajectory kick, a final thud, and days of perplexing statements from Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin.

With four seconds remaining, Alabama calls a timeout to ice Tennessee placekicker Daniel Lincoln. The crowd of 92,012 reflects on the inexplicable turn of events the Tennessee football team had produced to arrive at the brink of an immense upset.

With a successful conversion, Lincoln had the opportunity to relinquish Alabama from the national spotlight. As he lined up the 44-yard attempt, the Alabama Crimson Tide was on the verge of having its bid for perfection knocked down…

That was until Tennessee kicker Daniel Lincoln came to the harsh realization Mount Cody was too big to kick over. The Tide's 354-pound nose guard leaped less than a foot to block the potential game-winning kick and salvaged a 12-10 victory over SEC rival Tennessee Saturday afternoon at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

A pair of super-sized plays from Mount Cody united with Tiffin’s consistency may be heralded as performances that preserved an Alabama national championship.

The common theme of Saturday’s victory in Tuscaloosa is simply, special teams were special. In order to beat the nation’s top team, you have to play virtually perfect. In a match up decided by field goals, Alabama was perfect.

Leigh Tiffin continued his hot streak by kicking four field goals, accounting for all 12 of Alabama points. The senior kicked first-half field goals of 38, 50, and 22. He added a 49-yarder with 6:31 to play to make it 12-3.

For the season, Tiffin has made 20-of-23 (87 percent) field goals attempts, converting 15 of his last 16 kicks. Tiffin was named the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week and The Lou Groza Star of the Week.

Alabama senior nose guard Terrence Cody received SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors after his two blocked field goal attempts, including a blocked Lincoln game-winning field attempt as time expired to lift the Tide to its eighth win of the season.

Cody also blocked a 43-yard attempt earlier in the fourth quarter, tying the Alabama single-game record for blocked kicks in a game.

As for Coach Kiffin, who has been reprimanded by the SEC office for violating the Southeastern Conference Code of Ethics, this is the second reprimand for Kiffin in this calendar year.

The Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0 SEC) earned its third straight victory in Tuscaloosa, the first time this has happened since 1991. After an open date this Saturday, Alabama returns to action November 7, when they host the LSU Tigers at Bryant-D.

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Jamie Christensen is the only player in Crimson Tide history to kick consecutive game winning field goals, as well as three last second, game winning field goals in one season: vs. Ole Miss on October 15, 2005, vs. Tennessee on October 22, 2005, and The Cotton Bowl vs. Texas Tech on January 2, 2006.

Christensen was in Tuscaloosa from 2003-2007 and played under coach Mike Shula (4 years) and coach Nick Saban (1 year).

He is a graduate of the Culverhouse College of Commerce with a B.S. in Business Management, B.S. in Marketing and a minor in Finance.

Christensen is a Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch in Atlanta [click here].