Heupel, Conner Knapp light cigars as Vols beat Alabama

Before the cigars, Tennessee nearly gave this one away. The Vols led 12-7 late in the 2nd quarter when a punt went sideways.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

This Tennessee special teams member Volunteered himself to make the worst play imaginable

For a fanbase that has been through a lot of Alabama, that is the kind of play that makes you think it's happening again. It didn't. Jim Knowles, the first-year defensive coordinator, held Alabama to 201 total yards and 3.7 yards a play, and the Tide went 3-for-16 on 3rd and 4th down. On offense DeSean Bishop carried it 32 times for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns, and a 4th-quarter drive that ate more than 9 minutes basically ended the game.

It also landed on a ridiculous Saturday. Auburn beat Georgia, Texas lost, and Alabama took its second straight loss. That's the first time the Tide have dropped back-to-back regular-season games since 2007. Tennessee is 6-1, 3-1 in the SEC, and has finally snapped a 4-game home losing streak against ranked teams. Beating Alabama comes with a cigar in Knoxville, so the timeline filled up with them.

PFT Commenter

@PFTCommenter

Vols. The sweet sound of victory

Not everyone who lit one looked like they'd done it before. Conner Knapp put on the orange quarter-zip and the Vols cap and fired one up on a high-rise balcony with the Chicago skyline behind him. Megan liked the clip for the wrong reasons.

Megan

@MeganMakinMoney

I love how unnatural this is (no disrespect @ConnerHKnapp )

Big T

@ConnerHKnapp

ON A TENNESSEE SATURDAY NIGHT

To be fair to Big T, it's a lot to handle at once: torch lighter, cigar, wind off Lake Michigan and a camera on you. The guy whose cigar actually counts had no problems with any of that.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Josh Heupel is literally smoking on that Kalen DeBoer pack

That's the head coach smoking a cigar in the locker room after holding Kalen DeBoer's offense to 10 points, and the tongue out at the end says plenty. Bama now has to deal with 2 straight losses and real Playoff pressure. Tennessee is 6-1 with a defense that just shut down the Tide, and now it has to prove this wasn't a one-week high. The cigars were the easy part.