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Something is missing with Alabama football's rivalry with Tennessee | Goodbread
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Something is missing with Alabama football's rivalry with Tennessee | Goodbread
Something's missing from Saturday's annual October clash between the Tennessee and Alabama football programs. Something isn't quite right, even though the usual signs of pending classic are in place. Victory cigars are at the ready on both sides for a matchup of two teams ranked in the top-10 nationally in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll . The rivals enter with identical 5-1 records with 2-1 SEC marks, and animosity between the fan bases certainly hasn't gone anywhere.
It should be competitive on the field, and raucous in Neyland Stadium. But there's an absence about this year's annual grudge match: the absence of a dominant team.
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There's almost always one in this matchup, and sometimes two.
The 2024 chapter of the Third Saturday in October rivalry, however, has the look of two teams with too many problems to hide and too tough a schedule to hide them much longer. Both could be pretenders when it comes to College Football Playoff contention, and the loser of Saturday's game will be well on the way to elimination.
At 5-1, their records look strong enough, but both lost as recently as nine days ago against teams they should've been able to handle: UT dropped a 19-14 decision at Arkansas , and Alabama was stunned at Vanderbilt, 40-35. Each loss exposed flaws that weren't rectified last week in Tennessee's narrow win over Florida , or in the Crimson Tide 's mistake-laden escape of South Carolina . Each loss left fans wondering whether wins could be assumed anywhere else on the conference schedule. And each loss put a question mark on the end of both teams' most significant victories of the season.
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Tennessee's offense is broken.
Quarterback Nico Iamaleava , the toast of Knoxville the first three weeks of the season, has yet to throw for 200 yards in three SEC games. Against Oklahoma , Arkansas and Florida, he's got a dismal TD-INT count of 1-1, and looked downright confused for much of a win over Florida last week. The UT offense couldn't score more than 25 points in any of those SEC games, and needed overtime to score 23 against the Gators . The Tennessee offense was supposed to be good enough to carry this team, but of late, the UT defense has done all the carrying.
The Alabama defense is broken.
The Crimson Tide hasn't put together a strong half of defense since the first half of the Georgia game in Week 5. It forced Vanderbilt to punt just twice in Nashville two weeks ago, and couldn't get off the field much better last week against South Carolina. In a system that's new for players under first-year coordinator Kane Wommack, tackles are being missed, receivers are running open and chains are being moved.
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Tennessee's average of 7.33 penalties per game ranks 98th nationally among 133 FBS programs; Alabama's average of 7.83 ranks 111th. Both programs are coming off narrow escapes of very beatable opponents; a 3-3 Florida team held Tennessee scoreless for the entire first half, in Knoxville no less, only to lose to the Volunteers in overtime. Alabama exposed its chin throughout the second half against South Carolina, but the 3-3 Gamecocks couldn't land a knockout punch.
We're not talking about juggernauts here.
At least one of them is undeserving of the top-10 national ranking they've both been given for the moment. If one is a legitimate SEC contender, it'll take more than a win on Saturday to recognize it.
But it won't take more than another loss to know which isn't.
Tuscaloosa News sport columnist Chase Goodbread.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Something missing with Alabama football's rivalry vs Tennessee
