No. 1 Alabama trounces No. 9 Tennessee in 49-10 runaway

“We’ve got to get better”, Jones said.

9/11 Tennessee fell to No. 1/1 Alabama 49-10 on Saturday at Neyland Stadium.

Yes, I know the Vols were a severely wounded team going in against Goliath. The Crimson Tide could have given the Titans a run for their money.

At the risk of stating the obvious, this was an awesome performance for the Crimson Tide. I’m surprised his voice didn’t have anything left at the end but a whisper. After all, how do you beat a team that raises its level of play when it plays against elite competition? They scored up the middle. “We still had some lapses we still had some bad plays, but for the most part we had a good day”. Their defense was lethal.

Miami now has two league losses, which is disappointing for a team that just seven days ago was undefeated before its game against Florida State. Seven of those 10 wins have been by at least 20 points.

“It was a simple game, ” Jones sighed. “And a line-of-scrimmage league”. After Hurts had his pass tipped by Shy Tuttle and corralled by SEC Player of the Year front-runner Derek Barnett a drive later, the Tide forced a three-and-out. Ronnie Harrison was right there waiting for a screen in the second quarter and returned it 50 yards for Alabama’s 10th non-offensive touchdown of the season. Scarbrough had 109 rushing yards and Damien Harris tallied 94 rushing yards.

Alabama’s pass rush made it impossible for Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs to stand in the pocket and wait for plays to develop downfield.

Alabama ran 76 plays and had 594 yards of offense, including a whopping 438 on the ground where freshman quartrerback Jalen Hurts led the way with 123 yards and three touchdowns on runs of 45, 1 and 2 yards. Saban, however, likes a quarterback who can take that patented criticism on the field before sorting it out in the locker room.

Nick Saban is always looking for something to improve on.

The man leaves no pebble unturned.

“I think it helps because it gives us more multiples of players to substitute, so we can actually play more guys, which saves them a little bit”. Tennessee remains in contention in the SEC East, but the Vols don’t yet measure up to the SEC’s best, especially when they’re banged up. The Tide will now prepare for nemesis Trevor Knight and Texas A&M next week in Tuscaloosa in what could be the league’s game of the year. Tennessee now has two. Baylor had five takeaways against the 1-5 Jayhawks who have lost 15 straight Big 12 games. Vanderbilt’s last SEC road win came on November 23, 2013, at Tennessee when James Franklin was roaming the Commodores’ sideline.

The Vols need to get up off the mat and win out.

Clemson 24, North Carolina State 17 – Deshaun Watson hit Artavis Scott with 10-yard touchdown pass in overtime and Marcus Edmond finished it with an interception in the end zone as the No. 3 Tigers (7-0, 4-0 ACC) warded off the visiting Wolfpack (4-2, 1-1).

The schedule did not do Tennessee any favors. On first down, Volunteers running back Alvin Kamara gained 12 yards, but then the Alabama defense clamped down and forced a loss of yardage on three straight plays which led to Tennessee punting on fourth-and-27. They need to heal the wounded before the end of the regular season. Assuming they win next week, Alabama would only have to defeat an underachieving LSU squad, Mississippi State, Chattanooga, and Auburn to have yet another flawless regular season.