Alabama suffered their second loss of the season on Saturday as the Tide were handled 26-10 by Tennessee. Alabama fell to 5-2 overall (3-2 SEC).
This marked the third consecutive game that Alabama has lost in Neyland Stadium, and Alabama has now lost three of the last five in the series after winning the previous 15 before that.
It was a frustrating outing all around for Alabama as they never got anything going on offense and the defense could not hold on long enough. Alabama mustered just 201 total yards, were penalized 10 times, turned the ball over four times, and allowed five sacks.
While that pretty much paints the picture of the loss, here are three takeaways.
Out-physicalized
Tennessee was the more physical team on Saturday. Simple as that. Tennessee won
the battle in the trenches, got after Keelon Russell, stopped the Alabama run game, and just all-around won the physicality battle. The Vols imposed their will on the Tide.
Alabama managed just 54 rushing yards, after it appeared the run game had been emerging in previous weeks. Alabama's running backs combined for just 47 yards on 14 carries (3.4 yards per carry). Meanwhile, Tennessee running back DeSean Bishop had 159 yards on a whopping 32 carries (five yards per carry). Tennessee's defense finished up with 10 TFL and five sacks. Tennessee was by-far the more physical team on Saturday, and that team usually wins in the SEC.
Struggles on third and fourth down
Alabama had been a solid third down team coming into this week, converting 48.6% of them, but it was a major struggle on Saturday. Alabama was just 2-of-13 on third down, and on top of that was just 1-of-3 on fourth down. Alabama did not convert a third down in the first half. Both of Alabama's conversions came on the same drive, their opening drive of the second half, which ended up ending on a turnover on downs.
It's hard to win a game when you don't convert a single third down outside of one drive. Part of the struggle on third down was that Alabama was consistently finding itself in third and long due to penalties or sacks. It also felt like several times Alabama came up one yard short on third down.
Turnovers
The turnover bug returned for Alabama on Saturday as the Tide turned it over four times (two interceptions, two fumbles). Turnovers were an issue early in the season (four turnovers in the first two weeks), but Alabama had turned the ball over just three times over the last four weeks.
Alabama now has multiple turnovers in three of their seven games this season and are averaging 1.6 turnovers per game this season. Turnovers were not THE reason Alabama lost this game, but they played a role. And in the larger picture, it's problematic and could continue to cost Alabama in the future.
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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: 3 takeaways from Alabama's frustrating loss vs. Tennessee
