Cody tips Alabama’s fortunes

Terrence Cody, the Crimson Tide’s 350-pound nose guard, blocked a 44-yard field goal attempt on the final play - his second block of the fourth quarter - and Alabama escaped with a 12-10 victory over rival Tennessee yesterday.

He muscled the Tide to another win, with pure brute force.

“I didn’t really get off the ground,’’ Cody said. “I just reached my arm up. That’s how I got it. I knocked [the blocker] back. He was on his back.’’

Alabama (8-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) was about to have its bid for perfection knocked down, too.

Then Cody broke through the line on the last play and practically ran into Daniel Lincoln’s low kick. Relieved Alabama fans chanted “Cody!’’ as the All-American ambled toward the locker room.

Leigh Tiffin booted four field goals - including 50- and 49-yarders - to provide all of Alabama’s points and the Tide survived Mark Ingram’s first college fumble and some problems for the nation’s top-ranked defense. The last few minutes were all about survival.

“You talk about how fragile a season is,’’ Tide coach Nick Saban said. “You’re controlling a game, even though you may say it’s winning ugly. We’re still ahead, 12-3, and totally controlling the game with 3 minutes 29 seconds [left] and the ball. That’s how fragile a season can be. You make one mistake and you have to go overcome it. I hope that there’s a lot of lessons our team can learn from this.’’

Tennessee (3-4, 1-3) kept alive its hopes for coach Lane Kiffin’s first huge victory with Eric Berry’s fumble recovery and Jonathan Crompton’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Gerald Jones with 1:19 left. Then Tennessee’s Denarius Moore recovered the onside kick at the Vols’ 41 with no timeouts remaining.

Crompton hit Jones for 14 yards before Tennessee was pushed back by a false start penalty. On second down, the much-maligned Crompton hit Luke Stocker for a 23-yard gain to get the Vols into position for the potential winning kick.

But Cody and the Tide made a big push, and Alabama, second in the BCS standings, still controls its destiny in the national title race.

“I don’t believe in moral victories, we should have won that game,’’ said Kiffin.

Tiffin’s 49-yarder with 6:31 left had barely cleared the uprights for the 12-3 lead and, it turns out, the decisive points. That came after Cody batted Lincoln’s 43-yard field goal attempt with his left hand.

“Neither was an exceptionally good kick, but they both went through and that’s what counts,’’ Tiffin said. “I don’t know if I watched either one of them go through.’’

Tennessee would get new life when Ingram lost the first fumble of his career in 322 touches, giving the Vols the ball at the Bama 43. All-America safety Eric Berry jarred the ball loose as Ingram was going down, and then recovered it.

Crompton overcame a sack on the next play and completed four straight passes for 42 yards and the TD to make it 12-10. Alabama had nearly made it three games in a row without allowing a touchdown. The Tide were held without an offensive TD for the first time since 2007, against Mississippi State.

The Vols outgained Alabama, 341-256, and Crompton outplayed the Tide’s Greg McElroy. He was 21 of 36 for 265 yards with an early interception. McElroy’s 18-of-29 effort produced only 120 yards.

Ingram, who emerged as a Heisman Trophy contender the past two weeks, gained 99 yards on 18 carries and surpassed 1,000 yards in his sophomore season.