How 48-option propelled Tennessee to another win over Alabama in 1984

Doug Mathews’ voice came over the headset. 

As the Tennessee offense was huddled on the sideline, moments before a gutsy do-or-die two-point conversion attempt against Alabama on the south end of Neyland Stadium on Oct. 20, 1984, the Vols’ running backs coach brought up a familiar play.

It was the one that beat the Crimson Tide the year before. Then-quarterback Alan Cockrell changed it up a bit, going to the left side of the field instead of the right. A 66-yard sprint to the end zone by Johnnie Jones followed. It was the dagger in Tennessee’s win at Legion Field in Birmingham. 

The Vols were looking to bury another into the heart of their most hated rival, this time from the four-yard line after Jones dove across the goal line to pull within one with two minutes left.

“I love (that play),” Mathews told the coaches down on the field.

It was called 48 Option and two years in a row the Alabama defense couldn’t stop it. The Vols were going to go for a third. 

Tennessee quarterback Tony Robinson went under center. He faked the hand off to B.B. Cooper up the middle then paused as he looked towards Jones, who was running wide to his right. It only took a second, but it was enough for an Alabama defender to freeze up. 

Robinson tucked the ball, ran forward and dove for the goal line. Freedie Robinson crashed in and grabbed him around the ankles, but he was too late. Robinson was already laying on his back in the end zone with both arms raised. 

Another successful 48 option call. Another thrilling win over Alabama, this one 28-27 on a finish for the ages. 

“Alabama may have thought we were going to throw,” Robinson told reporters postgame. “When I faked (the pitch), I knew I was going to get in. That’s the same play that has beat Alabama three years in a row.”

The 90,000-plus spectators—dead silent as the Crimson Tide went up two scores in the fourth quarter—broke into a euphoric frenzy, one that carried onto the field as time expired and in a recreation of two years early when Tennessee ended an 11-game losing skid to Alabama, the goal posts were torn down and paraded down Cumberland Ave. 

“It looked bad for us in the fourth quarter,” Tennessee defensive back Tommy Sims said. “The stadium was quiet. But we believed we could win. We talked about pride and determination. That had been our theme for the week. We talked about fighting to the finish. We knew fighters could win in the end.”

This Tennessee team was full of them. 

The Vols were beaten, battered and bruised entering the rendition of the Third Saturday in October. They had lost three-straight, including a 43-30 shootout against Florida at home the previous week. 

Alabama had been struggling, too, in its life after Bear Bryant. 

Bryant retired two years earlier in 1982—a few months after Tennessee came from behind to beat the Crimson Tide, 35-28 and end a decade-plus of misery. Ray Perkins, one of Bryant’s former players, was tabbed as his replacement in 1983 and Alabama won just eight games that year. 

It was on its way to a five-win season in 1984—its worst since 1957—after losing to Boston College, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and Georgia in the first month of the season.

But records hardly mattered. Neither did anything else when these two teams played each other. Tennessee clawed its way back like it was playing for its season. That was evident in Vols’ head coach Johnny Majors’ decision to go for the win instead of the tie. 

Alabama was clinging to the lead like it was clinging to life, and each time the crowd got louder with growing hope, the Crimson Tide grip slipped a little.

“It was a war that heated in the fourth quarter and it was one that Tennessee wanted to win,” Al Browning penned for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. “Forget Vietnam…This was World War II. A clear decision was a must.”

Of course all of those heroics by Jones and Robinson and Majors wouldn’t be living on in Tennessee football lore if it wasn’t for freshman fullback William Howard and freshman defensive back Andre Creamer. 

It was Howard, who on fourth-and-three at midfield plowed forward through the Alabama defensive front to pick up three yards and no more for the first down to keep the drive alive that ended in a 17-yard touchdown pass from Robinson to Tim McGee to pull within one score. 

“I was pushing and pulling on the sideline, twisting and turning when we went for it on fourth down,” Majors recalled to the sporting press. “But there was nothing I could do. It was in the hands of our young men on the field.”

It ended up in the hands of Creamer a few minutes later. 

Creamer stood with his heels resting at the 40-yard line with less than four minutes left. He was clinching both fists as he awaited the punt, running through all of the scenarios that could play out in a few seconds in his head. 

“I felt something big was gonna happen,” Creamer said. “But I didn’t know whether it would be big for them or big for me.”

The ball fell out of the sky towards him. Creamer ran under it at the 46. He ran to his left, towards the sideline after making one man miss, then he moved up field as his blockers got in front of him. He sidestepped another would-be tackler at the 20 before being dragged down from behind at the 11-yard line. 

Creamer covered 45 yards to put Tennessee right back on the doorstep. Jones scored four plays later, setting the stage for Robinson’s decisive score. 

Creamer had earlier given up a 68-yard touchdown pass that drew Alabama even just before halftime. One long stride and some textbook blocking created the kind of hero that only the Third Saturday in October could. 

“It’s as good a punt return as I’ve ever had,” Tennessee secondary coach Ron Zook said. “And I can’t say enough about Andre. The kid kept fighting when a lesser kid would have quit.”

Tennessee hit its stride under Majors the following year.

In a cruel twist of fate, Robinson suffered a season-ending injury against Alabama in Birmingham. The Vols held on to win on a Dale Jones interception, then overcame the loss of Robinson the rest of the season to win the program’s first SEC title in 16 years. 

Beating the Crimson Tide on the 48 option instead of settling for the tie might have been the catalyst for that run. 

“Everything had to click in the final seven or eight minutes for us to win it,” Majors said. “We made it happen. We maintained our poise. We kept fighting. We showed pride, determination and character. It was a dogfight between two hungry teams.”