Crimson Conclusions: Alabama vs Tennessee

It’s time to breakdown Alabama vs Tennessee and see where the Tide stands after another epic game.

Saturday the Alabama Crimson Tide (7-1) survived what ended up being one of the most evenly contested matchups between the Tide and rival Tennessee Volunteers (3-4) in the Nick Saban era rivaling the 2009 game between the two schools. The ironic thing about this year’s game and that 2009 game is that field goals, Tennessee field goal attempts to be more precise, played a huge factor in the result of the game. In 2009 Terrence Cody blocked two late field goals in the game to help Alabama to victory while this year Tennessee kicker Alex Medley missed all three of his field goal attempts, though they were all over 40-yards, as Alabama won late 19-14 despite shooting themselves in the foot for most of the game.

Offense, Defense Pull Through In The Clutch

Both the offense and defense struggled at times, in fact for the majority of the game, against Tennessee but in the last five minutes of the game both dominated. Late in the fourth quarter Tennessee gashed the Tide defense for a 4-play, 75-yard scoring drive in less than 1:20 to take the 14-13 lead. Alabama responded with an 8-play, 71-yard scoring drive in which Jacob Coker made third-and-long conversions twice. The first was an incredible leaping reception over the defender by ArDarius Stewart and the second was a beautiful fade to Calvin Ridley. Derrick Henry, who struggled to get going at times with an inconsistent line, then cashed in with a 14-yard TD run. The Alabama defense, not to be outdone, then ended the game with two consecutive sacks by Jonathan Allen and Ryan Anderson. That second sack by Anderson was a thing of beauty and forced a turnover. Anderson bull rushed the tackle, running straight through him, and blindsided Tennessee QB Josh Dobbs forcing him to fumble. A’Shawn Robinson caught the fumble in midair and rumbled down to the three-yard line to seal the win. Despite all of Alabama’s struggles the team stood up and made the plays it needed to, on both offense and defense, and won. The excitement and enthusiasm the team showed at the end of the game was definitely a sight to behold, and reminded me a lot of the way the team reacted at the end of the Arkansas game last year when Landon Collins made the game sealing interception. ArDarius Stewart also had the best game of his career this week catching 6 passes for 114 yards including the amazing leaping catch on Alabama’s winning drive. He also was stellar blocking down the field, throwing key blocks on both of Derrick Henry’s scores. OJ Howard also had seven catches on the game and Calvin Ridley caught six.

Offensive Line Struggles Again

The offensive line play against Tennessee was just flat out painful to watch at times. Jake Coker was hit far too many times, which has become a reoccurring theme this year, and more often than not was running for his life on drop backs. Coker was sacked five times and hit several more times. Henry was hit in the backfield far too often in the game and he was forced to earn every yard in the game. The majority of his yardage came on the left side of the line led by Cam Robinson, but even Robinson played extremely poorly at times allowing another sack on the season and being flagged for an unsportsman like conduct penalty. Alabama was able to move the ball pretty well, especially in the second half, but just seemed to constantly shoot itself in the foot. Twice Alabama drove inside the Tennessee 10-yard line, once inside the three, and had to settle for short field goals rather than punching the ball in the endzone. This is something that Alabama must get better at and when they get the ball inside the ten they have to pound the ball and do it consistently.

Defense Struggles At Times

Josh Dobbs didn’t run wild on the Alabama defense, in fact he only rushed for 19 net rushing yards and 171 passing yards, but he was very efficient with the ball and didn’t turn it over until the end. Jalen Hurd also managed to gain more than 5 yards-per-carry on the game. Alabama really struggled covering the edges on outside runs with Hurd making the majority of his yardage on the edges. This is something that Alabama can certainly correct and will 100% need to do with the Tide facing the best running back in the country in two weeks. Also, the usually sure handed Alabama defenders dropped three sure thing interceptions which was just mind boggling at times. Ronnie Harrison, Reuben Foster, and Minkah Fitzpatrick each had interceptions in their hands but couldn’t hang on to them. Had those interceptions been caught then the score likely would have been a different story. Alabama also had to deal with some injuries in the secondary with both Eddie Jackson and Ronnie Harrison leaving the game with injuries, though they both eventually returned. Alabama’s bye week couldn’t come at a more perfect time as the team looked exhausted and beaten up at times in the game.

Special Teams Comes Through

Special teams have been a struggle for much for the season for Alabama but this week that was the opposite. JK Scott had possibly his best game of the season in the game with two 56-yard punts, 2 punts inside the 20. Scott managed to flip the field several times for Alabama when the offense was struggling. Adam Griffith also had a solid game converting on two short field goals which were certainly needed and his counterpart on Tennessee’s side missed all three of his attempts. Kenyan Drake was also solid returning kicks tonight though he wasn’t able to do much on offense yet again.

FINAL STATS

PASSING
Jake Coker: 21-27, 247 yards, 1 INT

RUSHING
Derrick Henry: 28 carries, 143 yards, 2 TD
Kenyan Drake: 3 carries, 10 yards; 1 catch, 3 yards

RECEIVING
OJ Howard: 7 catches, 55 yards
ArDarius Stewart: 6 catches, 114 yards
Calvin Ridley: 6 catches, 62 yards
Richard Mullaney: 1 catch, 13 yards

DEFENSE
Reggie Ragland: 12 TKL, 1.0 TFL
Reuben Foster: 11 TKL, 2.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 PBU
Minkah Fitzpatrick: 7 TKL, 1 PBU
Jarran Reed: 5 TKL, 0.5 TFL, 1 QBH
Geno Matias-Smith: 4 TKL
Cyrus Jones: 4 TKL
Eddie Jackson: 3 TKL
Ryan Anderson: 3 TKL, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 QBH, 1 FF
A’Shawn Robinson: 3 TKL, 1.0 TFL, 0.5 sack, 1 QBH, 1 FR
Marlon Humphrey: 2 TKL
DJ Pettway: 2 TKL, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 sack
Jonathan Allen: 2 TKL, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 sack
Daron Payne: 2 TKL, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sack
Tony Brown: 1 TKL
Tim Williams: 1 TKL
Jabriel Washington: 1 TKL
Maurice Smith: 1 TKL
Ronnie Harrison: 1 TKL, 1 PBU
Dalvin Tomlinson: 1 TKL, 1 QBH
Denzel Devall: 1 QBH
Rashaan Evans: 2 QBH
Da’Shawn Hand: 1 QBH

SPECIAL TEAMS
Adam Griffith: 2/2 FGs, 1/1 XPs
JK Scott: 4 punts, 49.8 YPP, Long: 56 yards
Kenyan Drake: 2 KOR, 62 yards

Alabama is off next week, but will battle SEC West rival LSU in two weeks.