TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Josh Heupel said Tennessee’s third quarter debacle against Alabama “didn’t feel the same” as the second quarter catastrophe that downed the Vols a month ago at Florida.
There were differences. Inexcusable tackling led to a long touchdown at Florida while a bad interception and pre snap penalties made things spiral rapidly for Tennessee in Gainesville. Tennessee didn’t give Alabama the ball in scoring range once and held the Crimson Tide to field goals on a pair of drives.
The Vols’ third quarter collapse at Bryant-Denny Stadium was a slow death whereas their poor second quarter at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium all but ended the game in the flash.
But the end result of each was the same. On the road, Tennessee was incapable of responding to adversity, spiraling and blowing a golden opportunity for its first road rivalry win in two decades.
“Just weren’t good enough for the second half,” Heupel said.
That’s the simple part. The harder question is why? And the important question is how does Tennessee fix it going forward?
There was nothing flukey about Tennessee building a 20-7 halftime lead over Alabama. The Vols forced a pair of turnovers which both took points off the board for Alabama and immediately set themselves up with scoring opportunities, but both were more so great plays by Tennessee than bad plays by Alabama.
Tennessee didn’t dominate the line of scrimmage in the first half. But its offensive line held its own against a fantastic defensive front and its defensive line outplayed Alabama’s offensive front.
The Vols made Alabama one dimensional in the first half and out gained the Crimson Tide 275-133 in the game’s first 30 minutes.
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The final 30 minutes were a much different situation. Alabama controlled both lines of scrimmage, if not dominating them, while out gaining Tennessee 225-129. The total yards doesn’t even do the 180-flip justice. Tennessee trailed by 14 points before they crossed mid field in the second half.
“I feel like we weren’t as physical as we were in the first half,” sophomore linebacker Elijah Herring said. “We didn’t come out with that ‘Get it done’ mentality, that win the line of scrimmage mentality. That was the difference between the first half and the second half.”
“We just let go of that rope. Got comfortable. Felt like we won the game already.”
Herring’s feeling that the game was already won certainly wasn’t shared by every player, but a starter feeling that way is worrisome and he likely wasn’t the only Vol that had that mentality.
But even with a lackadaisical start to the second half, Tennessee had a 13-point head start. The inability to ever stop the bleeding was just as detrimental, if not more detrimental, than the inadequate mindset to open the second half was.
Tennessee rid itself of many of the issues that plagued them in the Florida game. But the snowballing stretch of bad play was enough to do them in against Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.
Josh Heupel’s third Tennessee team must respond to adversity quickly during the upcoming week. The Vols head to Lexington next Saturday with their season teetering. Tennessee must avoid letting one loss turn into two, and when adversity inevitably arrives on the road again they must respond better than they did Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa.
