Tennessee Volunteers at Alabama Crimson Tide Start Time, Odds, Free Pick

Alabama is finding out that it has what it takes to do just that.

“Our time will come”, Jones said late in his postgame comments. “We executed when the time was needed”. They settled for the field goal to make it 10-7.

On Alabama’s opening possession of the second half, the Crimson Tide drove 73 yards in 12 plays and took six minutes off the clock. Henry ended the game with 28 carries, 143 yards, and two touchdowns.

So long as Freeze and Co. put it together for this stretch run, Ole Miss has its path to Atlanta. After three consecutive tough games, one each against the previously unbeaten Georgia Bulldogs and Texas A&M Aggies, both on the road with a home tilt with the big and physical Arkansas Razorbacks sandwiched between them, the Tide came into the Tennessee game with exhausted legs.

The Crimson Tide (7-1, 4-1 SEC) will enjoy its bye week next weekend. “We competed. We showed them that we can compete, but we just have to finish”.

Both teams struggled to convert on opportunities.

Tennesse’s final drive was plagued by a penalty and two sacks.

Alabama quarterback Jake Coker isn’t known as a dual threat like Dobbs, but he’s shown a knack for running – if not for avoiding contact.

“I don’t like to lose”, Saban said. We’re not thinking about those past games when we go out on the field.

Henry, who scored the game’s first touchdown, capped Alabama’s eight-play, 71-yard touchdown drive with a 14-yard scoring run to the left side and the Crimson Tide escaped with a 19-14 Southeastern Conference victory over an inspired Tennessee on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Henry, a junior, has carried the Alabama offense this season despite quarterback play and pass protection that has been inconsistent at times.

Medley, who made 20 of 26 field-goal tries as a freshman in 2014, is now 9-of-17 this season, but he’s made just one kick of 40 or more yards on seven tries this season.

Alabama answered on its next possession with a 71-yard touchdown driving taking the lead 19-14.

The Tide hit on a couple of big passing plays to ArDarius Stewart and Calvin Ridley on their 75-yard final drive, though, and the Alabama defense sealed the game with a strip-sack of Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs with less than 90 seconds left.

Coker finished 21-of-27 for 246 yards in another efficient performance that is increasingly becoming the norm for him as he settles into the starting role in Tuscaloosa.

“It means a lot”, Coker said.

Three of Tennessee’s first seven opponents were ranked in the Top 25 at the time. Prescott accounted for 465 of State’s 586 yards total offense, completing 25-of-35 passes for 348 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, and running 13 times for 117 yards and three scores.

“I’m looking forward to it. We’re going to take advantage of it, getting that extra rest. I might get in trouble for that”.

Tennessee hasn’t won in Tuscaloosa since the 2003 season, but Jones and the Vols have had an extra week to prepare for this one. “I can say that I never lost to Tennessee”.

Derrick Henry and Alabama only dominated the last few minutes, when their national championship hopes were hanging by a thread. We were exhausted out there today and we didn’t look really quick or fast. The Volunteers missed their second of the game and it was a 7-7 game at the half. The University providing the cigars is a secondary violation, but the team self reports this violation every year in the name of tradition.

Postgame fallout: Vanderbilt athletic director David Williams handed Mason the game ball from his first SEC victory afterward in a loud Vanderbilt locker room full of ecstatic Commodores.