After the Alabama Crimson Tide dropped its second straight matchup for the first time since 2013 in an ugly 26-10 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers, members of the Crimson Tide’s defense are looking ahead to how they can improve.
“We’re not going to focus on Tennessee,” said Alabama defensive back Ivan Taylor on Tuesday. “We already got that out of the way [and] we got the 24-hour rule.”
After receiving the ball first, Tennessee began the game with a 12-play, 63-yard drive that ended in a 29-yard field goal by Cooper Ranvier to put the Volunteers up 3-0. On the ensuing Alabama drive, Tennessee linebacker Jeremiah Telander sacked Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell, and Tennessee linebacker Tyree Weathersby recovered the fumble at Alabama’s 19-yard line.
Despite the very favorable field position for Tennessee, Alabama’s defense held the Volunteers to another field goal from Ranvier, this one from 33 yards, to put the Volunteers up 6-0. After an Alabama punt on the next drive, Tennessee began their next drive at Alabama’s 49-yard line.
However, the Volunteers were still not able to punch the ball into the end zone, as a 41-yard field goal from Ranvier increased Tennessee’s lead to 9-0 with 4:32 remaining in the first quarter.
Tennessee easily could have gone up 21-0 in the first quarter, but Alabama’s defense was able to keep the game from becoming out-of-hand early. However, the lack of production from Alabama’s offense proved to be a major issue for both sides of the ball on Saturday.
Alabama’s offense finished the game with six punts, two fumbles, and two interceptions, and Alabama possessed the ball for only 24:16 to Tennessee’s 35:44. With the defense on the field for longer periods of time, the unit looked very fatigued at the end of the game.
With 12:49 remaining in the fourth quarter, Alabama trailed 19-10 and desperately needed a stop on defense to have any attempt at a comeback.
Instead, Tennessee drove the ball 72 yards down the field on 15 plays, ending in a 5-yard touchdown from Tennessee running back DeSean Bishop to put the Volunteers ahead 26-10 with 3:17 remaining.
Despite the defense playing fatigued late in the game, they also missed a total of 23 tackles on Saturday.
“We’ve just got to be better; we can’t miss tackles,” said Alabama linebacker Caleb Woodson. “It’s not like an effort, not like a scheme thing; it’s just execute.”
The Crimson Tide will play the Texas A&M Aggies this Saturday for Homecoming. The Aggies come into the game with a 4-3 record, but they have had major struggles on the road this season, as the offense only scored six points in both road matchups against LSU and Missouri.
Alabama comes into the matchup as a 14-point favorite, but Ivan Taylor explained that they must play with full intensity and execution no matter how much the Aggies have struggled on offense in road matchups so far.
“We really just need to focus on ourselves,” said Taylor. “They have a lot of threats, so just making sure that we need to do what we need to do and go 1-0.”
With Alabama sitting at 5-2 following the loss and a No. 13 ranking in the AP Poll, Alabama now has little to no room for error, but Caleb Woodson says that he personally likes when his “back’s against the wall.”
The Crimson Tide and the Aggies will kick off at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on ABC.