Joel Klatt believes Tennessee had a measuring stick opportunity at Alabama and came up short.

Tennessee was aiming for a second consecutive victory vs. Alabama after having no wins since 2006 against the Crimson Tide. Instead, Alabama powered past Tennessee in the second half en route to a 34-20 victory.

During a recent episode of The Joel Klatt Show, the FOX Sports analyst discussed the lost opportunity for Tennessee as they’ve been striving to enter the SEC’s top tier consisting of Georgia, Alabama, and LSU.

“We thought this might be the chance. We thought this might be a Tennessee moment to take the next step…Tennessee has kind of been knocking at that door. We want to play and be at the top end of the SEC,” Klatt said. “Last year, it sure felt like they were going to do that when they took down Alabama. That was a monumental victory at home.”

However, it instead reminded Klatt of Tennessee’s loss at Georgia last season that took them out of the hunt.

“Tennessee wants to get up there….Then you go out there in the second half and you get housed,” Klatt said. “This felt a lot like that.”

Tennessee took a 13-0 lead after 1 quarter and a 20-7 advantage into halftime. Yet, Alabama gained revenge by going on a 27-0 run after the break.

“It’s a really tough thing in that conference to rise up and compete with and possibly beat Nick Saban, and in particular in back-to-back years,” Klatt said.

Next up for No. 21 Tennessee is a road contest at Kentucky on Oct. 28 (7 p.m. EST/ESPN).