Welcome to Tennessee-Alabama week.
The Third Saturday in October marks the annual meeting between the Crimson Tide and Volunteers, which has been a series largely dominated by Alabama lately. Tennessee has won two of the last three, but both wins came in Knoxville. Tuscaloosa has been a different story, as the Vols haven’t come away with a road win in the series since 2003.
Alabama is coming off of a big road win at Missouri, and it certainly seems like Kalen DeBoer is starting to settle in. His year
one team seemingly fell apart last season and an ugly showing in week one at Florida State had people questioning if he was the guy. However, he’s got Ty Simpson playing at a Heisman caliber level suddenly and the Tide have bounced back to move to 5-1, looking perhaps like the best team in the SEC.
The oddsmakers are also riding that wave of Alabama momentum. Tennessee has opened as a 9.5 point underdog in Tuscaloosa, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The total opened up at 60.5.
On the Tennessee side, it’s all about the defense. The Volunteers leaned on that unit last season to power to a 10-2 record, armed with one of the best defensive fronts in the country. This year has been a completely different story, with Tennessee now ranking 100th overall in total defense halfway through the season.
Tennessee is also razor thin in the secondary, and still missing Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson at cornerback. Ty Simpson, Germie Bernard and Ryan Williams will pose quite the challenge for this group on Saturday. As we’ve seen in all Tennessee games so far, we know points will be scored. The Volunteers are going to have to find a turnover or two and let the top five ranked offense lead the way.
Tennessee is 40-60-7 all time in this series. They haven’t won consecutive games in the series since 2003-2004. They’ll look to change that on Saturday night.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. ABC will have the coverage.
