Tennessee hasn’t beaten Alabama on the gridiron since 2006. The Crimson Tide’s 12-year streak is the longest in the 100-year history of the series and considering only two of those matchups were decided by less than a two-touchdown margin, it’s hard for many to believe the Volunteers would be talking trash to Nick Saban’s program heading into Saturday’s game in Tuscaloosa.

However, that’s exactly what happened this week, according to ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath.

McGrath will be working Saturday night’s game between Alabama and Tennessee but before she makes her way down to Tuscaloosa, the ESPN reporter worked Thursday night’s UCLA-Stanford game. During one point of that broadcast, McGrath was asked to discuss the 101st edition of the Third Saturday in October.

According to McGrath, Alabama is working hard to not overlook Tennessee.

“I spoke with Tua Tagovailoa the other day and Nick Saban has brought back the ‘rat poison’ comparisons so he’s keeping his team on top of it, they are not underestimating this opponent,” McGrath said on the air.

On the other hand, more than one Tennessee player apparently doesn’t have much respect for Alabama’s championship hopes.

“I talked to a couple of Tennessee players, they are very confident,” McGrath continued. “They said this doesn’t look like an Alabama team that can win a national championship. So there’s a lot of smack talking going on.”

McGrath later followed up with this statement once Twitter caught wind of her on-air comments:

That comment caught the attention of many in Vol Nation wondering why Tennessee would poke the SEC’s most dominant program.

While many others simply aren’t buying that Tennessee players would make these comments:

https://twitter.com/Volguy1971/status/1185087180026368001?s=20

Of the many comments, this may be the best response yet:

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Tennessee sports betting officially launched on November 1, 2020. Tennessee was the first SEC state to legalize sports betting.