Tennessee outplayed and arguably dominated Alabama in the first half Saturday afternoon in Bryant-Denny Stadium, outscoring the Tide 20-7.
One of the best halves of the season from Tennessee turned into anything but in the second. The Vols were blanked in the second half 27-0 and lost by two touchdowns.
It was a tale of two halves in the most extreme way.
Following the loss, head coach Josh Heupel met with the media to discuss his takeaways from the game. Naturally, the majority of questions were centered around the second-half struggles.
Heupel was open about his team’s shortcomings in the latter half while also thinking back to the third-quarter sequence that was an omen for things to come.
“I didn’t think we started super fast in the third quarter,” Heupel said. “Which is obvious. And you know what happens? They drive the field and score. We end up on the four-yard line coming out after sky kick. So gotta start faster.”
Alabama received the second-half kickoff and scored before any of the 100,000 people in Bryant-Denny could blink.
Jase McClellan began the drive with a big 29-yard run, then Jalen Milroe hit Isaiah Bond deep for a 46-yard score.
In just two plays and 35 seconds, Alabama had cut Tennessee’s lead to six.
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Then, the most awkward game of the play happened. Alabama’s kickoff was returned to the 24-yard-line by Cam Seldon but called back due to a fair catch. The ruling on the field was that either Jack Jancek or Jeremiah Telander called a fair catch, and due to the fact Seldon returned a kickoff that was already fair caught, it was a penalty on Tennessee.
Thus, the Vols started the drive at the four-yard-line. A quick three-and-out ensued, then Alabama kicked a field goal to make it 20-17.
“Unique circumstances,” Heupel said about the beginning of the second half. “They hit us with the one split zone (Bond touchdown). The fair catch signal from the front line placed the ball at the four, you gotta give them credit too. There’s some things that we didn’t do well enough. You start backed up, it changes what you’re doing on your opening drive a little bit.”
Following Alabama’s field goal, Tennessee was driving near midfield until they faced a 4th & 1 from their own 47-yard-line. For the second time in the game, Heupel decided to go for it on 4th & 1 in his own territory.
And for the second time, the attempt failed, as Dylan Sampson was stuffed on a shotgun run play to the right.
“Fourth and less than one, given up a score on the previous one and felt like we had an opportunity to pick it up,” Heupel said on why he went for it. “Obviously didn’t (get it). Gave them short field. They took advantage of. I think they got three out (of it). That one might have been seven.”
It was seven, as a McClellan five-yard score ultimately gave Alabama the lead who never looked back. The failed 4th & 1 conversion felt like an incredibly significant part in Tennessee’s second-half meltdown.
“At the end of the day, our guys didn’t stop competing,” Heupel said. “We weren’t smart enough. We weren’t good enough, starting with me and in the second half, but they continued to reset the play. And the momentum did shift during that series of events (third quarter). But our guys continued to compete.”
