Vol defense gashed on the ground
Tennessee came into Saturday trying to make a statement. Instead, it was top-ranked Alabama who walked out of Neyland Stadium turning heads.
Dual-threat Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts and his stable of complimentary backs gashed Tennessee's depleted defense all afternoon, rumbling to a 49-10 thrashing of No. 9 Tennessee.
“Alabama is a very talented football team, and we still have a lot to play for,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. “It starts with looking at everything we're doing and, for the most part, getting healthy.”
The grind of a four-game stretch against four ranked teams, coupled with a dizzying amount of injuries finally caught up with the ninth-ranked Vols (5-2, 2-2 SEC).
Tennessee had a player at each level of its defense — Kahlil McKenzie on the line, Elliot Berry at linebacker and Baylen Buchanan at corner — making their first career start. Tennessee's 'next man up' mantra finally met its tipping point, as a lack of experience and relative talent caught up with a Vols' defense that had battled through injury for three weeks.
Alabama (7-0, 4-0) wasted little time exploiting Tennessee's deficiencies. The Crimson Tide got on the board with a 91-yard march on their second drive, scoring from 29 yards out on a reverse to receiver ArDarius Stewart that befuddled Tennessee's defense.
Once the Crimson Tide went ahead two scores courtesy of a Ronnie Harrison pick-6, they returned to a steady dose of the ground game and took control.
Hurts, who has settled into his role in recent weeks and produced eye-popping numbers, was electric on the ground. The freshman carried the ball 12 times for 132 yards and three touchdowns, hardly needing his arm to dismantle UT.
Bo Scarbrough had five carries for 109 yards, including a back-breaking 85-yard dash for six, and Damien Harris nearly joined his teammates over the century mark but fell shy at 94 yards.
Alabama's 438 rushing yards in the most given up by Tennessee since Auburn ran for 444 yards in a 2013 romp.
“It's a line of scrimmage game,” Jones said, “and when you give up 438 yards rushing and offensively you have 32 yards rushing you're not even giving yourself an opportunity to be in the game.”
Tennessee had life for a brief moment after Hurts was stripped by Derek Barnett, who turned in another dominate performance, to set up an Alvin Kamara touchdown run. But, Hurts and the Tide answered right away.
The Vols lost containment on the Texas product, who scampered untouched down the Tennessee sideline for 45-yard touchdown and the first of his three scores. Hurts would score second-half touchdowns on 2- and 1-yard runs as the Crimson Tide built their lead, eventually handing the Vols their worst lost in the series since 1906.
“They kept burning us on that quarterback run,” Barnett said. “That's the play that kept getting us.”
Tennessee made no excuses. Sure, injuries have hit the Vols at an alarming rate, but players stuck to the idea that it no matter who's on the field they need to produce.
And while it's true the game won't stop because UT is banged up, the Vols' depth is running thin. In addition to the long list of already battered and bruised players on defense, defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie joined the ever expanding group after suffering a shoulder injury in the second quarter.
Tennessee gets a much needed bye week now. The list of injured players is in the double digits, and the Vols still have five games to play.
“Season One is over and season two starts after this bye week is over,” Barnett said. “We got to keep it rolling and can't let one game define our whole season.
“We have to go into this week and try to get healthy.”