Erik Ainge estimated that I was 1 of his 40 different interview requests during the week leading up to Alabama-Tennessee on Saturday. That’s what comes to the territory when you’re the last Vols quarterback to beat the Tide.

“It’s sickening,” Ainge told SDS. “I’m 36 and I’ve got a 12-year-old and 3 children. It’s too long.”

Ainge is right. It has been too long. Sixteen years ago (and counting) was, as he said, “a different life.”

Most books have Tennessee an underdog by at least 7 points against Alabama this week. Barstool’s risk-free $1,000 bet is a great way to dip your toes into betting the Vols for the first time. New users get your first bet refunded, up to $1,000, if you lose the bet. Barstool Sportsbook is live in Tennessee. Click here to get started.

Barstool Sportsbook

States: OH, MD, LA, CO, IL, IN, MI, NJ, PA, VA, TN, AZ, IA, WV

GET THE APP
CODE: SOUTH1000
CODE: SOUTH1000
SIGN-UP BONUS

$1,000

NEW PLAYER BONUS

BET NOW

In addition to Ainge having a family and being well settled into his post-football life as a host of “The Erik Ainge Show” on WNML-FM in Knoxville, the entire Nick Saban dynasty happened since that afternoon in 2006. Six national titles and the most dominant run in the sport’s history also included, of course, 15 consecutive wins against Tennessee.

Ainge is ready to no longer be the answer to the most dubious trivia question about Tennessee — who was the last Vols quarterback to beat Alabama? Ainge is confident Hendon Hooker soon will take away that distinction by way of a 30-27 upset in Knoxville.

“This series has not been competitive. At all,” Ainge said. “This is the first time since I played that I actually think that Tennessee has a legitimate opportunity to go get a win over Alabama. In none of those past games did I feel like that.”

Hence, why Ainge tweeted this GIF from “Home Alone.”

Regardless of how Saturday plays out between No. 3 Alabama and No. 6 Tennessee, it’ll be entirely different circumstances than the ones surrounding Ainge in 2006.

On that “Third Saturday in October,” the Vols entered as the No. 7 team in the country against unranked Alabama with Saban’s predecessor, Mike Shula, who was fired at season’s end after losing 4 of his final 5 games. In fact, beating Alabama that day by just 3 points actually dropped Tennessee by 1 spot in the AP Poll.

A different life, indeed.

“We knew we were the better team and the better football program, but we knew we were going to get the absolute best Alabama had to offer every single time we played them,” Ainge said. “We did that day.”

There are details about the 2006 game that Ainge still remembers vividly. At one point in the second half, he got hit so hard by an Alabama linebacker that he couldn’t get his wind back and he needed Tennessee running back Arian Foster to call the next play in the huddle. “(My wind) never came back,” Ainge said. Fortunately for Ainge, the Tennessee offense came back after he threw 3 interceptions in the first half. Foster scored the first and only Vols touchdown of the day when he hurdled into the end zone to take their first lead with 3:26 to play.

But the key play of the game might’ve actually been what happened with 4 minutes left in the second quarter.

Driving into Alabama territory deadlocked at a 3-3 tie, Ainge sailed a throw that found the hands of Alabama cornerback Simeon Castille for his second interception of the game. Castille took off down the right sideline and appeared to be heading for a walk-in touchdown. Ainge appeared out of nowhere and pushed him out of bounds at the Tennessee 8-yard line.

“I was rollin’ down the field. I was wheeling. I’ve never run that fast in my entire life,” Ainge said. 

Alabama couldn’t punch it in and opted for a field goal on the Tennessee 1-yard line. Essentially, Ainge’s tackle took 4 points off the board in a game that the Vols ultimately won by 3.

That got me thinking.

That was a game-changing play. If Alabama knocks off No. 7 Tennessee, it vaults the Tide back into the AP Top 25. They would’ve been 6-2 with FIU on the way. We know now that Alabama lost 3 games in a row to close the regular season, and Shula was fired after Alabama lost the Iron Bowl for the 5th consecutive year. Thirty-eight days later, the Tide made Saban the first $4 million man in the history of the sport and the rest is history.

But … does Shula still get fired if Alabama wins that game and perhaps the finish isn’t quite as ugly? And if not, does the Saban era at Alabama ever happen? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.

I couldn’t help but float that potential sliding doors theory past Ainge, AKA the guy who made the game-saving tackle.

“Connor, are you blaming me for the Saban era of Alabama football?” Ainge asked me.

“Yes,” I said in between laughs.

“I think you are!” Ainge said. “Nah, I hadn’t really thought about it that way, but you never take an ‘L.’ The selfless Vol in me would’ve been just fine with that.”

OK, fair. So then let’s just say that knowing what he knows now, what if Ainge could go back in time and change the course of history for Alabama by virtue of simply not making the tackle … would he do it?

“I would still push (Castille) out of bounds because that’s my one claim to athletic fame in my entire career. I’m gonna hold onto that forever,” Ainge said. “I’ll be telling my grandkids about that. ‘Sit on the front porch, son. Look what your Pa Pa did over here pushing Simeon Castille out of bounds.’”

What Ainge or nobody could’ve possibly known that day was what awaited Tennessee. It’s not just the fact that the Vols have lost 15 consecutive Third Saturdays in October. It’s that all but 3 of them have been decided by at least 21 points. In 2021, Josh Heupel’s offense scored 24 points in what was a 1-score game in the 4th quarter, but Alabama still won by 28. That marked Tennessee’s best offensive day against Alabama since 2003.

Technically, Ainge and the Vols actually had year-to-year improvement offensively against Alabama in Saban’s first year in 2007. They scored 17 points compared to 16 the previous year. The only problem? It was a 41-17 loss in which Saban’s defense totally perplexed Ainge.

When Jeremy Pruitt took over as Tennessee’s head coach in 2018, Ainge got a chance to ask the former Alabama assistant what their defensive game plan was that day when the Vols’ losing streak began in 2007. Pruitt told him it was Cover-2 man coverage, which was designed to make Ainge struggle throwing to the outside and either work the middle of the field or use his legs to move the chains.

“I was like, ‘Well, damn. It worked,’” Ainge said.

Everything Saban’s Alabama has done against Tennessee worked. Whether that was Terrence Cody blocking Tennessee’s potential game-winning kick in 2009 or Trevon Diggs taking a rogue Jarrett Guarantano goal-line hurdle and fumble back 100 yards the other way for an instant 14-point swing in 2019, pain has come in all shapes and sizes the past 15 years.

Had Ainge known the angst that awaited, he would’ve changed at least on thing in 2006.

“I would’ve celebrated that night a whole lot more than I did,” Ainge said. “I would’ve probably thrown up in my mouth when you said that to me.”

On Saturday, Ainge will do his usual Saturday radio show at Neyland in the morning before meeting up with some friends to tailgate and witness the monumental showdown. He’ll have no shortage of people who stop him for pictures because after all, they know their history. Like Ainge, they’ve watched every single Third Saturday in October the past 15 years in hopes that it would finally be Tennessee’s turn to enjoy the traditional victory cigar.

Maybe, just maybe, this is the year. Needless to say, Ainge will be ready.

“When we win the football game,” Ainge said, “I’m gonna light it up inside Neyland Stadium.”