Tennessee football heads on the road Saturday night to face rival Alabama on the Third Saturday in October. Both teams enter the game with one loss on the season to date with the massive proving extremely significant for each’s College Football Playoff hopes.
Alabama is 8.5-point favorites over Tennessee according to the DKSportsbook. What do the Vols need to do to pull the upset? Here are three keys for Tennessee.
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Don’t Let Alabama Play Keep Away
Alabama ranks in the top 10 nationally in time of possession this season. While the Crimson Tide does not have an elite running game, they’ve been able to methodically move the ball down the field with underneath passing, third down efficiency and an elite ability to protect the football.
Expect Alabama to do much of the same in this game. They want to keep the ball out of Joey Aguilar’s hands and away from Tennessee’s offense.
The Vols need to be better on third down then they have been for much of the season. That’s particularly the case in third-and-long where Arkansas converted at a high rate a week ago. Josh Heupel said on the Mike Keith Show that Tennessee must win the money down. That’s true for both sides of the ball but particularly for Tennessee’s defense.
Pressure Ty Simpson And Force Turnovers
A big key to getting off the field on third down and not letting Alabama play keep away is for Tennessee’s pass rush to keep producing at the high level that it has for much of the season. The Crimson Tide’s offensive line has been susceptible to giving up sacks, especially the right side of the offensive line.
Tennessee leads the nation in sacks per game and has four different edge rushers who have had success getting to the passer. That’s the one clear advantage that Tennessee’s defense has against Alabama’s offense. They need to take advantage of it in this game.
Can Tennessee force turnovers when they get to Simpson? The Vols have been elite at recording strip sacks and making quarterbacks make mistakes when they get to them. Simpson has been fantastic at limiting mistakes, turning it over just twice to this point in the season.
If Tennessee can force Simpson into mistakes that would help them limit the time of possession damage and give them opportunities to play from a favorable spot.
Maximize Opportunities And Play Clean Football
Last week, Tennessee scored just seven points on its three forced turnovers. Against Georgia, the Vols had to settle for a field goal after forcing a turnover in Georgia territory. If Tennessee is going to pull the upset, they need to maximize its opportunities.
That’s about taking advantage off turnovers. It’s also finishing drives with touchdowns when they get deep in Alabama territory. Tennessee should be able to move the football in this game. Whether than can score touchdowns in the majority of its opportunities is another story.
To maximize its opportunities, Tennessee must play clean football in this game. The Vols have struggled to do that at times this season and have particularly struggled to do so in big road games in the past. To pull the upset, Tennessee can’t beat itself. They must play its cleanest game of the season to date.
