After surviving a near-upset last week at home and slipping from No. 1 to No. 3 in the rankings, Alabama faces its toughest challenge to date Saturday in an SEC showdown against No. 6 Tennessee in Knoxville.
It’s the second time this season the Crimson Tide have fallen out of the top spot, and coach Nick Saban expects his team to respond similarly to its previous dip. After a one-point win at Texas on Sept. 10, Alabama fell from No. 1 to No. 2 and promptly scored 167 points in its next three games, beating Louisiana-Monroe, Vanderbilt and Arkansas by an average of 44 points.
But none of those teams have shown the mettle that the Volunteers have displayed this season. Josh Heupel’s club has become one of college football’s surprising success stories of 2022.
Alabama (6-0, 3-0) has won 15 in a row against Tennessee (5-0, 2-0), with the Vols’ last win coming in Knoxville in 2006 — the year before Saban became the Tide’s coach.
The Vols, who went 7-6 with a loss to Purdue in the Music City Bowl last year, are 5-0 for the first time since 2016 with wins over three ranked opponents, including a dominant 40-13 rout at LSU last Saturday.
“We really just take it as a grain of salt, not getting too high, not getting too low, just staying even-keeled and making sure we’re doing our job every day,” Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker said this week.
Hooker, a redshirt senior transfer from Virginia Tech, is one of the primary reasons for the early success.
He leads the SEC with a 179.49 passer rating, completing 98 of 140 passes for 1,432 yards with 10 touchdowns — all with no interceptions. Hooker has also 231 yards rushing with three touchdowns.
A major question surrounding QBs in this game is the status of Alabama starter Bryce Young, who missed last week’s narrow 24-20 win over Texas A&M after leaving the Crimson Tide’s previous game against Arkansas with a right shoulder injury.
Saban was hopeful that Young would be available to play against Tennessee.
“Hopefully we’re going to try to get him ready to play this week,” Saban said Monday. “But this is something nobody can predict how quickly he’ll get an opportunity to do what he needs to do.”
Freshman Jalen Milroe started last week and threw three touchdown passes, but also lost two fumbles and threw an interception.
Milroe has completed 28 of 46 passes for 262 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions, and has been a threat running the ball, gaining 244 yards and a touchdown on 29 attempts.
“I just think Jalen played with a lot of anxiety,” Saban said. “I don’t think he allowed himself to let his training guide him and trust and believe in it so he could have success in executing plays. You can’t turn the ball over and not execute plays the way they’re designed relative to the read of what you should and shouldn’t do.”
Alabama is averaging 6.99 yards a carry, led by Jahmyr Gibbs with 532 yards (third best in the SEC). Tennessee ranks second in the conference in rushing defense, allowing 2.79 yards per carry and 89.2 per game.
“In the run game, you are best to not let (Gibbs) get started,” Heupel said. “If he does, he has the ability to take it the distance. He has good vision and pace behind the line of scrimmage. When he sees a hole, he is able to hit it. He does a really good job of making people miss, too.”
–Field Level Media
