Saturday’s game produced some astonishing numbers – many of which Tennessee fans would like to forget.
But to truly put that game into perspective, a closer look at some of them is necessary. It’s not all negative for UT, however, as a few players continue to rise in the record books.
• Alabama’s 438 rushing yards were the most for the Tide since a 1986 game against Tennessee (457). It’s also the most rushing yardage given up by Tennessee since that game in ’86.
• Alabama’s 39-point margin of victory was the largest for either team in this series since 1906.
• Alabama had two 100-yard rushers (Bo Scarbrough, Jalen Hurts) for the eighth time in school history. The Tide just missed a third (Damien Harris, 94 yards) – which would’ve marked just the second time ever that UT would’ve allowed three 100-yard rushers in a game. Hurts’ three rushing touchdowns fell one short of tying Marcus Allen’s record for rushing touchdowns against UT in a game (4).
• Alabama’s 49 points were the most scored in the series against Tennessee since 1986 (56), and the third-most in the series history for the Tide.
• Alabama has given up 447 yards of rushing though seven games, just nine more yards than it ran for in one game against Tennessee.
• Tennessee’s 32 yards of net rushing is the lowest total since putting up zero against Ole Miss in 2014.
• That was the second-largest margin of defeat in Butch Jones’ tenure at Tennessee. The Vols lost to Oregon by 45 in 2013. The 39-point loss to Alabama also was the fifth-largest margin of defeat in Jones’ 10-year head coaching career.
• Tennessee extended its streak of games with a rushing touchdown to 22.
• Jalen Hurd is now seventh on UT’s all-time rushing list with 2,622 yards. Travis Henry owns the record at 3,078. That puts Hurd 456 yards short at this point. He needs to average 76 yards per game to get there if the Vols have six games remaining (regular season + bowl). He needs 65.1 if the Vols have seven games remaining (regular season + SEC championship + bowl).
• Derek Barnett picked up his 26th career sack during the Alabama game, moving him into third place on UT’s all-time list. Only Leonard Little (28) and Reggie White (32) remain in front of him. Barnett also became the first defensive lineman since 2013 (Jacques Smith) to record an interception.
• Evan Berry passed Devrin Young and moved into third place in UT history in kickoff return yardage during the Alabama game. He is now up to 1,551 yards on 47 returns.
