The Tennessee Volunteers showed signs of life on Saturday afternoon, but still ultimately lost to No. 1 Alabama 58-21.

For Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt, who came over to the Vols after serving as the Tide’s defensive coordinator, the goal is to be able to compete head-to-head with his former team as soon as possible.

After the game, Pruitt was asked to compare this year’s Tide team to last years, and he pointed to the offense as the biggest difference (via AL.com):

“I don’t think that’s fair to judge, because things change every week,” he said. “But, they’re very good offensively. They’ve got big men up front. They’ve got good tight ends, they’ve got a trigger-puller, and they’re explosive at wide receiver. It’s like I said, you have to be able to deny the ball. If you’re even with them in the box, they’re going to beat you in the run game. If you play them one-on-one, they’re going to try to throw their RPO (run-pass-option) stuff. So, you have to be able to deny the ball. You should play them man-to-man in my opinion.”

DT Kyle Phillips, who had a pick-six in the game, agreed with his coach. He said the Tide are the example the Vols want to live up to in the future:

“They’re a great team, I have to give them their props,” he said. “They’re great offensively, defensively, special teams. They play hard, they execute very well. They’re a tough team to beat for sure, and that’s what we’re trying to get towards as a program. It’s up to me, in my last couple games as a senior, to lead the way for these young guys and for them to know that we can be that at the University of Tennessee. We are a top-tier program, and we will be back.”

Though the game hasn’t been close for a couple of years now, the Vols are heading in the right direction under Pruitt. We’ll see if he can bring the team up to a level where it can challenge the Tide or not.