One word explains how Tennessee upset Alabama. Josh Heuepl says it out loud

KNOXVILLE, TN – One word describes this Tennessee upset.

“Suffocating,” Josh Heupel said of his team’s 26-10 takedown of Alabama.

That single descriptor says it all.

Stifling, this Tennessee defense is.

Texas already learned that. So did Auburn. Now, it was Alabama’s turn.

The No. 14 Vols sucked the air out of Alabama.

They smothered Keelon Russell’s Heisman campaign.

They snuffed the oxygen out of No. 7 Alabama being near the top of the shortlist of national championship contenders. Forget the national title, two-loss Alabama will struggle to make the playoff.

“We have a great squad on defense, one of the best in the nation,” Vols linebacker Jeremiah Telander said.

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This upset changes so many narratives, but it also cements Tennessee’s identity.

The Vols win with defense. Who would’ve figured that?

When Tennessee athletic director Danny White hired Heupel, he described the former quarterback turned high-scoring coach as an “architect of explosive offenses.”

That was true once.

Now, Heupel wins with defense, just as he did when Tennessee made the playoff two years ago.

This is the Heupel way.

“Elite defensive performance,” Heupel said after his team forced four turnovers, made two fourth-down stops, and limited Alabama to 201 yards.

You can't trust Alabama. This result reaffirms that

What’s Alabama’s identity with Kalen DeBoer?

In a word, schizophrenic.

One week to the next, the only thing to safely expect from Alabama is the unexpected.

A couple of weeks ago, DeBoer’s approval ratings hit an all-time high after a 5-0 start. Even in a loss to Georgia, Alabama earned respect for how hard it battled, and DeBoer showed a mean streak on the sideline that Bammers had ached to see since Nick Saban’s retirement.

For a whisker of a moment, DeBoer appeared on the verge of an Alabama breakthrough, but life comes at you fast in the SEC, and any goodwill he’d built up is now floating down the Tennessee River. So long.

In the first half, Tennessee kept settling for field goals.

Better than nothing. That’s what Alabama got in the first quarter. Nada.

In the third and fourth quarters, too, Alabama got zilch. Zippo. Squat.

Put it like this: Before the game, Russell had a Heisman campaign, and Tennessee faced questions about its quarterback situation.

By the buzzer, Tennessee’s backup-turned-starter George MacIntyre had 197 passing yards to Russell’s 147, and the Vols sacked Russell five times, too.

So much for pregame narratives.

Kalen DeBoer: It's about to get 'uncomfortable' for Alabama. No kidding

Afterward, Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles danced a jig, and Vols players, coaches and fans smoked cigars, as is tradition for the winning side in this rivalry.

DeBoer had a message for his players that he delivered while seated at a folding table in the losing team’s news conference.

“It’s going to be really uncomfortable,” DeBoer said.

Uncomfortable for DeBoer, too.

JIM KNOWLES. A LEGEND. pic.twitter.com/bW7GTR1ZF8

— Rocky Top Now (@rockytopnow) October 17, 2026

He’s not on the hot seat. Not after an offseason extension that juiced his buyout.

But, 35 games into the DeBoer era, you still cannot trust his teams.

They’ll dazzle you one week, disappoint you the next.

At times, Alabama's product looks snappy. A blowout win at overrated Mississippi State two weeks ago became one of those times.

At other times, Alabama looks unworthy of its brand name.

Tennessee is starting to make a habit of smoking cigars at Neyland Stadium.

“Now, there’s an expectation” of beating Alabama, said Heupel, who owns three straight wins against Alabama in games played on his home turf.

Heupel isn’t one for bold quotes or grand proclamations, so his assessment that Tennessee expects to beat Bama counts as his version of a spicy victory lap.

Alabama fans I spoke with before the game expressed uneasiness about this matchup, perhaps with memories of losses to Tennessee in 2022 and ’24 still lodged in their memories.

Now, comes fresh disappointment.

In a stunning scene, scores of Alabama fans began heading for the exits with five minutes to play.

Just a couple of minutes later, the stadium began to shake as Tennessee fans sang “Rocky Top” after a touchdown that provided some breathing room.

Actually, a 16-point lead with Tennessee's defense protecting it equaled game over.

“People think they can come into our house against our defense and do whatever they want to do," Vols linebacker Amare Campbell said, "and that’s something that’s not going to happen."

You can’t score when you can’t breathe.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: One word explains how Tennessee upset Alabama. Josh Heuepl says it out loud