Tennessee football heads on the road for its toughest test of the 2025 season to date this weekend, facing rival Alabama on the Third Saturday in October.
Here’s a look at the Alabama Crimson Tide ahead of the SEC showdown.
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How The Crimson Tide Got Here
Alabama’s season started with a disaster. The Crimson Tide fell at a now three-loss Florida State team 31-17. Alabama entered the season as a national title contender but looked lifeless in the season opener.
Since then, Alabama has looked much more like the title contender that many expected before the season. The Crimson Tide got things back on the rails with blowout wins over Wisconsin and UL Monroe.
They proved their worth the last three weeks, winning at Georgia, versus Vanderbilt and at Missouri. It’s three straight ranked wins for an Alabama team that’s starting to look like it may be the SEC’s best.
Alabama’s Strengths
Alabama has been really solid though not elite in most offensive categories this season. They rank sixth in the conference by averaging 34.8 points per game and they’re fifth in the conference with a 50% third down conversion rate.
The two areas Alabama has most excelled offensively is its passing game and red zone offense. Quarterback Ty Simpson has been really solid, helping Alabama rank 15th nationally and third in the SEC with 304 passing yards per game.
In the red zone, Alabama has scored on 27 of 28 trips including touchdowns on 20 trips. The Crimson Tide has been efficient taking advantage of their opportunities.
Alabama also plays keep away. Its offense isn’t all that explosive but they put together long drives and rank seventh nationally in time of possession.
Defensively, Alabama has one of the best secondaries in the country. They’re allowing just 136.5 passing yards per game this season, a mark that ranks third nationally. Two things are true here— Alabama has the best pass defense that Tennessee’s faced this season and Tennessee has the best passing attack that Alabama has faced this season.
Perhaps Alabama’s biggest strength this season has been its ability to win the turnover battle. The Crimson Tide are plus-nine in turnover margin this season with 11 turnovers forced and just two offensive turnovers. That’s a mark that ranks second nationally.
Alabama’s Weaknesses
Here’s a pair of Alabama weaknesses that you don’t expect to see. The Crimson Tide is not very good at running the ball and they’re not very good at stopping the run.
Alabama is averaging just 126.5 rushing yards per game this season, a mark that ranks 11th in the SEC and 101st nationally. Of note, starting running back Jam Miller could miss this game due to injury. He’s a big piece to the puzzle as Alabama tries to get its ground game back on track.
The Crimson Tide run defense is a bit of an inverse of their pass defense. They rank 13th in the SEC and 90th nationally by allowing 157 rushing yards per game. But they’ve also played rush heavy teams in Florida State, Missouri and Vanderbilt which skews those number a bit. Florida State particularly does because the Seminoles picked up 230 yards on the ground in that blowout win.
Another reason to think that Alabama’s passing defense is maybe not as good as the numbers look? Its pass rush is pretty lackluster. They rank 100th nationally with just nine sacks this season and have a poor team pass rush grade on PFF.
Kadyn Proctor is really solid at the left tackle spot but Alabama’s pass protection has otherwise been a bit shaky. They’ve allowed 13 sacks this season and Missouri’s pass rush gave them issues a season ago.
Alabama’s defense has also struggled to get off the field on third downs, allowing a 37.5% convert rate that is one of the worst in the SEC. In fact, Tennessee is three spots ahead of them nationally and we know that’s been an issue for the Vols.
Crimson Tide Players To Know
QB Ty Simpson
Simpson was perhaps the biggest question about Alabama entering the season because of the junior quarterback’s lack of experience. But Simpson has been really solid this season.
He’s thrown for 1,678 yards, 16 touchdowns and just the one interception. Simpson hasn’t been a superstar but he’s been accurate throwing the football to a collection of talented receivers. The west Tennessee native is one of the best passers between the numbers in the entire country.
WRs Germie Bernard, Ryan Williams and Isaiah Horton
It’s hard to single out just one receiver in the Crimson Tide’s talented trio. In fact, Alabama and Tennessee have the two best receiver trios in the entire SEC.
Williams (12 catches, 336 yards, 3 touchdowns) is the big name star from his standout freshman season and he’s started to get on a roll in recent weeks. But Bernard (28, 412, 5) has been the most productive receiver this season, playing himself into a first round selection.
Horton (21, 270, 4) is a Miami transfer and a middle Tennessee native. He’s the third weapon but undoubtedly a good one.
S Bray Hubbard
Hubbard is Alabama’s highest graded defender according to PFF and has been a playmaker on the back end of the Crimson Tide defense.
He’s totaled 24 tackles, three interceptions, four pass deflections and one forced fumble to this point in the season. Hubbard has been able to make plays in the run game while being elite in pass coverage.
DE LT Overton
Overton is Alabama’s best pass rusher and a real threat off the edge. He’s totaled three sacks to go along with 20 total tackles this season. All three of his sacks are against power four foes including two of the three against SEC opponents.
What Josh Heupel Said About Alabama
Opening Statement
“Third Saturday in October. Great historical game, rivalry game and I know it’ll be a great environment against a great football team and looking forward to it. Got to go do a great job in our preparation. You look at how they’re playing offensively, defensively, special teams, playing at a really high level right now. Quarterback, playmakers out on the outside offensively for them. And defensively done a great job throughout the last few weeks here. Pass defense is one of the top in the country. Their front seven is big, strong, physical and athletic. So it will be a great test. And again, this is why you come to Tennessee to play in a game like this, a great rivalry game with Alabama.”
On the two different paths Alabama QB Ty Simpson and Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar took to get to their current positions
“Everybody has got a journey inside of this game. You mentioned Ty, great talent that has continued to grow as a player. You can see that in the way that he’s playing right now. Playing with a lot of confidence, great decision maker, taking care of the football. And has the ability to use his feet, extend and make plays too. So he’s done a great job. And Joey’s path was Joey’s path. He has continued to grow and get better and is doing a great job for us.”
On Alabama not having many turnovers this season, Tennessee’s defense forcing a lot of turnovers
“Well, we need to win the turnover battle, first of all. (Ty Simpson has) been great with the football, been really sound in decision making. For us, we gotta go play assignment sound. You gotta apply pressure to the quarterback. That’s part of creating turnovers. You gotta do a great job of matching out and making plays on the back end too. And gotta put her helmet on the football and get some punches too, and try to knock it out that way.”
