3 Thoughts & 1 Big Takeaway: No. 17 Tennessee Falls to No. 4 Alabama 37-20
Tennessee dropped their second game of the season in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night in very frustrating fashion.
No. 17 Tennessee once again had its chances to win in Tuscaloosa for the first time since 2003. However, the Volunteers ultimately dropped their second game of the season, 37-20. The Vols, in all likelihood, will now have to win out the rest of the way if they want to make back-to-back appearances in the College Football Playoff. It’s still doable, of course, as it is very plausible the Vols could be favored in every remaining game on their schedule.
Let’s dive into my three thoughts and one big takeaway from last night’s loss to the Crimson Tide.
I still think that had Tennessee converted one more of those first-half red zone trips on the road in Tuscaloosa in 2023 to push the Vols up three scores rather than two going into halftime, head football coach Josh Heupel’s team wins that game, and we’re not still talking about not winning in Tuscaloosa since 2003. Granted, we’ll never know for sure, but the Vols being the worst red zone offense in the SEC that year was the biggest reason this frustrating streak continues until at least 2027. I don’t think that the 2023 Tennessee team was better than this year’s team, though. It did, however, have the kind of start Tennessee needed to have to have a real shot – the Vols went up 13-0 after the first quarter, which included a touchdown on their opening drive and two drives in total that went for 75-plus yards. On Saturday night, Tennessee went three-and-out on its opening drive. Tennessee punted on its only two drives in the first quarter and defensively allowed Alabama to average 8.1 yards per play. Tennessee needed the kind of start it had against Alabama in 2023 or even the kind of start the Vols had against Georgia a few weeks ago to feel good about their chances to win this football game. A big reason DeBoer is 2-0 against Kirby Smart is that his teams have started so strongly in the first half in both games. They built a strong enough cushion in both instances to withstand the inevitable strong second-half response from the Bulldogs. The Vols were a yard away from getting the game to within two points on the final play of the first half, yes, but I can’t help but think about Tennessee not scoring on their opening possession for the first time all season in this ball game. We’re going to remember that final play for a long time, and naturally so. However, I’m still thinking about that false start on second down of the opening possession and the ineligible receiver down the field call on their second possession that ultimately resulted in Tennessee putting up zero points in the first quarter. It was the only quarter the Vols did not score on Saturday night.
This game had a lot of weird things about it, but one of the stranger ones was what was going on with the offensive line. For the second week in a row, the Vols ran the ball extremely well. Well, redshirt sophomore DeSean Bishop ran the ball extremely well. Bishop has been so dang good for Tennessee the last two weeks and the most reliable offensive player by a mile. The Karns alum has rushed for 269 yards and averaged 9.9 yards per carry over his last two games with three scores. Bishop and the offensive line are back on track there, clearly, but the pass protection struggled mightily in this game. Aguilar took four sacks in this game while the Vols’ offensive line had given up just four sacks all season coming in. Two of those sacks, per PFF, were accounted to Tennessee’s solid veterans on the left side of the offensive line in Wendell Moe Jr. and Lance Heard. It was odd, especially considering Alabama is 77th in FBS in team sacks and how good both Moe and Heard have been this season. The rotations with Sham Umarov, Jessee Perry, William Satterwhite, and David Sanders Jr. were also strange and reminded me of Tennessee’s wide receiver issues last season. It’s no coincidence that Tennessee’s best seasons throwing the football under Heupel have been the three seasons the Vols have rotated the least at wide receiver. On the plus side, Sanders graded out at PFF as Tennessee’s best pass-blocker in the ball game with an 84.1 grade. You hope this rotation on the offensive line does not linger into Lexington on Saturday night, as it did not seem to work well at all in the loss to Alabama.
Defensive coordinator Tim Banks’ unit did enough on Saturday night for Tennessee to win the game. You can believe that and still be frustrated with different aspects of that unit’s performance. It was certainly more surprising to see Tennessee come away with zero sacks on Ty Simpson on Saturday night versus Carson Beck in Athens last November. The Vols came into the game leading the FBS in team sacks. That Tennessee’s collection of talented blue-chippers could not bring down perhaps the Heisman frontrunner just once was very surprising on my end. To Banks’ and his unit’s credit, though, Tennessee was able to keep Jam Miller and Alabama’s running game in check for most of the night. His unit held the Crimson Tide offense to 28 points. There was more to it, though, that continues to frustrate Vol fans everywhere. Tennessee’s defense wasted a Jackson Ross gem that pinned the Crimson Tide at the one-yard line, only for Alabama to drive the ball 99 yards and score a touchdown. On Alabama’s first drive of the game, though, Alabama faced third-and-thirteen at their own six, and the Vols allowed Simpson to run around and find his tight end, Josh Cuevas, in the middle of the field to give a ridiculous first down. Because Banks’ unit could not get off the field on 3-and-13 there, Alabama proceeded to go 91 yards and score a touchdown to put them up 7-0 early. So some things got better this week, like the team’s run defense, but the same issues in the middle of the field persisted, and for the second-straight season, the pass rush disappeared on the road at the worst possible time for the Vols.
Big Thought
This loss stings, but not as much as the Georgia loss a few weeks ago. Alabama is playing like the best team in the conference and has the second-best national title odds as of this writing. There is no shame in losing this game on the road. However, after pushing Georgia to their absolute limit, it felt at the time, even in defeat, that Tennessee had the look and feel of a CFP team, especially with their schedule. Now, a return to the CFP seems highly improbable with Oklahoma and Vanderbilt remaining on the schedule, along with a trip to Gainesville. Never say never, but this feels like an 8-4 team right now that has too many recurring question marks and issues to reach that double-digit win total in back-to-back seasons.