Initial Impressions from the Tennessee game

Alabama fans certainly weren’t expecting to see the Tide get dominated in Knoxville yesterday. Kalen DeBoer and staff are rightfully getting some heat following a performance that was reminiscent of the Oklahoma game in 2024, when a physical Sooners team feeding off of a raucous home crowd rendered Alabama’s offense useless. DeBoer’s squads have been physically dominated far too often, and just when you think they’ve turned a corner, this happens.

If you’re looking for a little copium, one of the takeaways from yesterday is that consistency is in short supply across the sport these days. The same Tennessee squad that took Alabama to the woodshed had to fight for its life against Arkansas just last week. Auburn looked dead in the water, then knocked off Georgia. Ditto Florida State, who took Miami to overtime a week after losing by three touchdowns to Louisville. Florida sandwiched two blowout losses between a blowout win over Ole Miss and yesterday’s upset win at Texas. College football has looked more and more like a lite version of the NFL the past few seasons, and matchups are everything in that league. We’re seeing the same trend at the college level.

In any case, we aren’t here to talk about everyone else. Let’s talk some impressions, shall we?

Keelon Russell wasn’t quite ready for this kind of challenge.

Alabama was favored in the game because Keelon Russell looked like a Heisman contender just two short weeks ago, but he was brutal in Knoxville. There were certainly factors working against him, besides the fact that Tennessee boasts one of the best defenses in the nation. The crowd at Neyland was as loud as ever. The wind made passing the ball down the field difficult. But the biggest issue was Keelon’s greed that gets him in trouble sometimes when he holds onto the ball too long. This has bit him now in consecutive weeks, the fumble serving as a great example.

Tyree Weathersby is clearly lined up in the neutral zone on the play, but we’ll ignore that. It’s 3rd and 10, deep in your own territory. The one thing that you can’t do is turn the ball over. Fans groan when passes get thrown short of the sticks, but the QB’s job is to process what he sees and take what the read allows.

Russell chooses the field side on this play, but there is nothing there. In this circumstance, he has to come off of it and dump the ball off to the wide open Kaleb Edwards. It’s unlikely that Edwards gets a first down, but you give him a chance and then punt the football. Sometimes the defense wins the rep, and as a quarterback you can’t make it worse by taking an unnecessary sack. And, you certainly can’t put the ball on the turf.

Russell didn’t get a lot of help, but there are now some questions about him. He’s had two consecutive rough games, albeit against elite defenses. If he is going to be able to lead Alabama to a playoff berth, we need to see a big bounceback from him this week. Every opponent on the schedule is going to try and mimic what Georgia and Tennessee did against him, and it will be up to him and the coaching staff to make the necessary adjustments. To Keelon’s credit, he took responsibility after the game for the offensive output and vowed to get back to work.

There was no help from the Alabama running game.

Ryan Grubb is getting plenty of heat from the fanbase today for not running the football more, and he probably should have just to take some of it off of Keelon’s plate. Russell had 29 pass attempts and 11 carries including the five sacks, while Alabama’s running backs got only 14 carries. Daniel Hill had some decent success when given the opportunity.

Of course, they failed trying to run the ball in short yardage situations when they very much needed to retain possession of the football. The absence of Racin Delgatty may have been a factor, but it’s tough to imagine that he’d have made a substantial difference.

Bottom line, Tennessee’s coaching staff had to scheme around a limited passing game and did so with simple throws while leaning on the run game. Alabama’s offensive staff clearly thought they’d be able to waltz in there and push the ball downfield as Keelon has all season, despite playing in a hostile environment against a strong defense without their center or top WR. Maybe they failed to account for the wind, but the gameplan was not what it needed to be and that affects the confidence of your team.

The second half defensive strategy was curious

Tennessee played press coverage outside for most of the game and, considering the wind factor, it made sense to dare Alabama to throw it deep. For whatever reason, Alabama chose to sit back in zone for the entire second half when takeaways offered the best chance to win the game. It was noted that Kane Wommack called for a three man front on Tennessee’s first touchdown drive, and the Vols ran it right down his throat. Yhonzae Pierre was even seen lining up at the nose on that drive.

Needless to say, that is an odd strategy against an offense playing with a lead, with a backup QB and a strong running game. Tennessee’s offensive gameplan was to be as boring as possible and not make mistakes, and they did just that. Wommack needed to force the issue, but he failed to do so.

Ryan Coleman-Williams may be impacting the offense more than anyone realized.

It’s a small sample against a great defense, but Alabama’s receivers were uninspiring without Coleman-Williams on the field. Ryan has come up with some massive catches this season, and it almost seemed as if Russell was missing him as a default when everything broke down. With the news yesterday that Coleman-Williams underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, Russell is going to have a few weeks to build chemistry with the other receivers on the roster. Someone is going to have to step up, as what we saw yesterday isn’t good enough.

Alabama is now in survival mode headed into next week.

Texas A&M visits Tuscaloosa next week without a single road touchdown to its name. Marcel Reed has been dreadful as a passer, and the defense hasn’t been very good. This is a team that a playoff contender should dispatch easily at home, as LSU and Mizzou already have.

The Alabama injury report continues to grow with EJ Crowell and Zabien Brown joining the infirmed, but there is no time to lick wounds. This team sorely needs to get to the bye week to regroup and try to get some guys healthy before facing what will be an even nastier environment in Red Stick.

Put simply, a loss next week means their season is over. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a team, and their young quarterback. That can go one of two ways, and how they respond will define them.

Hope for the best.

Roll Tide.