The No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide are hitting the road in Week 7 for a highly anticipated showdown against the No. 16 Tennessee Volunteers in front of what is sure to be a rowdy Neyland Stadium crowd.
The Vols have made life very difficult for Alabama the last couple of times they made the trek up to Rocky Top, handing the Tide devastating road losses in 2022 and 2024. Head coach Kalen DeBoer has yet to win a game inside Neyland, and he’ll have to do so this weekend to avoid a 2-game losing streak.
Josh Heupel and the Vols will be looking to put their hated rivals in that exact predicament, and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban laid out the key to doing so on College GameDay Saturday morning.
“Nobody looks at Tennessee like a team that plays really good defense, runs the ball, shrinks the game,” Saban said. “That’s never been their M.O. But that’s the way they’re winning this year. They’re only giving up 15 points per game on defense. They got really good pass defense — give up 160 yards per game. They’re leading the SEC in sacks, so they’re able to affect the quarterback. They play pretty well in the red zone. That makes them hard to score against. They run the ball and shrink the game, and limit Alabama’s number of possessions, offensively. That may be the key for them in this game.”
Saban’s analysis, as always, is spot on, and we saw this exact same scenario play out last week in Georgia’s massive road win against the Tide. The Dawgs put together long, sustained drives that limited Alabama’s number of possessions, and they got after sophomore quarterback Keelon Russell all night.
The Vols may not be as talented or as deep as Georgia this season, but they can still knock off the Tide if they can execute the game plan Saban laid out on College GameDay.
