Remember when Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt said last week that Alabama had to stop themselves from scoring 100 points on some teams? Looks like his statement might’ve been more true than many expected.
According to Ben Jones of the Tuscaloosa News, Alabama head coach Nick Saban said on Thursday that he didn’t really want to score any more points against Tennessee and essentially “called off the dogs” on the Vols. Alabama’s 58 points against the Vols were the most the Tide had ever scored against Tennessee, and Saban was content with that total.
Alabama scored 58 against Tennessee on Saturday, the most points in the history of the rivalry.
“To be honest, I didn’t really want to score any more against them,” Nick Saban said tonight.— Ben Jones (@BW_Jones) October 26, 2018
The 58 points Alabama scored against Tennessee isn’t even the most points the Tide have scored this season. They put up 62 on Ole Miss and dropped 65 points on Arkansas. Scoring 58 points proved to be a breeze for this Tide squad.
Jones would also go on to note that Saban said he respected Jeremy Pruitt — who used to coach under Saban for over half a decade at Alabama — and that Tennessee’s players “have moms and dads too.”
Right after this, Saban said he respected Jeremy Pruitt and said Tennessee players had moms & dads, too. He’s being sincere, in case Tennessee fans want to say otherwise. Everyone saw Alabama’s play calls in the 4th quarter.
— Ben Jones (@BW_Jones) October 26, 2018
All 58 of Alabama’s points came in the first three quarters of play, and 28 of those 58 points came in the first quarter. The Tide did go more conservative in the fourth quarter, running just 16 plays and calling a pass on only one of them.
As a whole on the day, Alabama amassed 545 yards and averaged 7.4 yards per play against Tennessee. But it could’ve been worse had the Tide kept playing their starters in the final quarter of play.
As for Tennessee, the Vols’ 21 points against Alabama in the 58-21 loss marked the most points UT had put up on the Crimson Tide since they won 51-43 in a five-overtime thriller in 2003. The 21 points were the most Tennessee had scored on Alabama in regulation since a 35-24 victory in 2001. It also marked only the second time since 2004 that Tennessee had managed to score 20 or more points against Alabama.
But all those “firsts” mean little if the other team puts up 58 points on the scoreboard. And according to Saban, it could’ve been worse if he had actually wanted to keep running up the score.
