Tennessee football played sloppy football and fell at Alabama 37-20 Saturday night as the Vols dropped their second game of the season. The Vols’ road woes under Josh Heupel continued as they proved unable to get out of their own way in the rivalry loss.
Here are five critical moments from the Vols’ loss at Alabama
Second Play Sets The Tone
Tennessee received the game’s opening kick and the first play went well with Chris Brazzell picking up eight yards on a quick screen. Then Wendel Moe moved early on second down, pushing the Vols back five yards. It set the tone for the whole night.
A short Mike Matthews catch put Tennessee in third-and-two and Alabama stuffed a DeSean Bishop running forcing a three-and-out. The Vols have been stout on opening drives this season, scoring four touchdowns and scoring in all six games before Saturday.
Going three-and-out to open the game was a bad sign of what was to come. Second-and-seven was a manageable sequence, but it represented how Tennessee shot itself in the foot throughout the game.
Negative 18 Yards
Tennessee took over at its own 18-yard line in a 7-7 game in the second quarter. The Vols’ defense had forced two straight Alabama punts giving the offense a chance to take control of the game. The opposite happened.
An offensive pass interference on a screen pass moved Tennessee back into second-and-19 at the nine-yard line. Joey Aguilar then had a rare play with bad pocket presence, backpedaling into the end zone before tripping on one of his offensive linemen, throwing the ball to no one for an intentional grounding safety. In two plays, Tennessee lost 18 yards and put two points on the scoreboard for Alabama.
Things went from bad to worse when Alabama scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive to push its lead to 16-7 midway through the second quarter.
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Game Changing Pick Six
Despite all the first half mistakes, Tennessee had it first-and-goal at the two-yard line with 13 seconds remaining in the first half. A touchdown would have made it a 16-14 game at halftime and put Tennessee in a solid spot to win the game.
But after a first down run forced Tennessee to use its last timeout, disaster struck. The Vols tricked no one, truly no one, by going play action out of the heavy set before Zabien Brown intercepted an inaccurate Aguilar pass and took it 100 yards for a pick six.
We discussed the questionable play calling on the sequence here. But in its most obvious state, it radically changed the game. What could have been 16-14 or 16-10 or at worst 16-7 at halftime turned into a 23-7 lead. The Vols would have to play a perfect second half to recover. They were unable to do so.
Tennessee Fails To Capitalize On Forced Fumble
Credit Tennessee for responding well to the end of first half disaster to begin the second half. The Vols’ defense forced a three-and-out and the offense put together a touchdown drive to make it a 23-13 game.
Tennessee’s defense then did its job to make things interesting, recovering a Ty Simpson fumble at their own 47-yard line. It was a golden opportunity to make it a one-score game and change the dynamics of the second half. Tennessee even picked up 18 yards to get into field goal range.
But then Sam Pendleton snapped the ball when Aguilar wasn’t looking and Mike Matthews dropped a pass on third down forcing Tennessee to punt.
Back-To-Back Backbreakers
The previously mentioned punt was Jackson Ross’ best of the season. He downed Alabama at the one-yard line. But the Crimson Tide responded with a nine-play, 99-yard drive that was a true back breaker and effectively put the game away.
The two most important plays of the drive came back-to-back. Simpson found a wide open Josh Cuevas for 15 yards underneath on third-and-two. Alabama then tried to draw up a trick play. Tennessee had it snuffed out. Germie Bernard was dead to rights in the backfield before making four Vol defenders miss and running for 18 yards.
Tennessee had a chance to flip the drive on those two plays and failed to on both. When Alabama scored to go up 30-13, it was all but over.
