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... read post game interviews with DeMeco Ryans, DJ Hall and Jamie Christensen
see pictures from Game Day against Tennessee

Finding a Way ... Vols Booted 6-3
DeMeco Ryans (#35 SLB, Sr. 6-2 232 lbs. 3VL Bessemer, AL-Jess Lanier High School)

DeMeco Ryans answer questions after the game

These post game comments came as DeMeco Ryans answered post game questions from the press pool ...

Press Pool ... DeMeco, could you talk about what kind of effort it took today to get this win?

It was a total team effort man. It took a lot of heart. We played our hearts out and left it all out on the field, and that's what it takes in this Tennessee / Alabama game. We knew it was going to be a tough game and go down to the wire. So we were prepared for it you know. DJ stepped up and made a big play for us, and Jamie kicked it through the uprights just like he did last week.

What happened on the fumble? Can we get your perspective on what was going on?

Roman (Harper) just came down and made a great hit on the fullback. He hit him right on the ball, and the ball ended up rolling right out of the endzone. That gave us a touchback, and gave us the chance to put our offense back out on the field. That gave them the chance to go down and put some points on the board.

On that drive, Tennessee was moving the ball right down the field. They had to ball First and Goal on the three yard line. What was the defense saying to each other?

We were just saying "Just dig deep and give it everything you have each play." We did that and came up with a big turnover, which allowed us to put points on the board.

When you saw the fumble go out of the endzone, did you think that you had the game won?

Oh yeah. I knew we had it won. I knew Brodie was going to drive us down and I knew someone was going to step up and make a big play for us. And that's what DJ did. He made a great catch.

It looked like they had that screen pass set up pretty well. From your vantage point, did you think he was going to score?

I wasn't thinking that he was going to score. I knew one of our safeties was going to come down and hit him and stop him. I didn't think they were going to score on us.

All the controversy surrounding Philip Fulmer coming into this game ... was that on the players minds at all?

That was never on my mind at all. We can't control that. We had to go out and play. Philip Fulmer can't get out there and play, so we can't worry about that.

Beating Tennessee, and arch-rival ... can you talk about what that means?

It means everything to us. We came up short the past two years. To get it done this year means a lot to us, and a lot to the seniors. We've been through the overtime game, and we've been through the close game up there in Knoxville. It just means the world to us to get it done this year.

Do you believe in this team being a team of destiny, like with the fumble rolling out of the endzone?

A lot of things are going our way. Where as in some past years, one of their players probably would have picked that ball up for a touchdown. That was just our luck the past two years. Just for our team to have the heart of a champion and to keep plugging and keep fighting throughout the whole game lets us know that we're here to do something special and we're a special team.

Is this one of the best games you've played this year (question partially inaudible)?

Oh yeah, it's one of the best. Holding them to 3 points. Just like the Florida game was one of our best. This one is up there also.

When they put Arian Foster in at running back it seemed to give them a spark. Talk about what you did differently and how you adjusted to stop him.

He came in and ran the ball a lot harder than I think (Gerald) Riggs did. He gave them that spark they were looking for. We made a lot of missed tackles. We had in the backfield a lot of times and never wrapped him up. It was our fault that they were running up the field on us.