Jumbo Package: Tennessee Hate Week Begins
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Happy Monday, everyone. It’s officially Tennessee hate week, so we will open with the legendary Irvin Carney. It’s obligatory, after all.
If this team has what I think it has, they will go to Knoxville and destroy that team. The Vols are decidedly mediocre on offense and haven’t faced a functional passing game. Of course, we anxiously await news on some of the injuries.
The middle of the Alabama defense was consistently gashed by Georgia on Saturday, in both the run game and throwing the football. That has to get cleaned up against Tennessee on Saturday. The Vols might not have the most explosive offense, but they will run the football between the tackles. How Alabama bounces back from a tough loss against Georgia will be a test of a young team’s emotional maturity, especially quarterback Keelon Russell, who settled in after a rough start but ultimately didn’t get the job done. Watch the injury report this week, though, with starters Ryan Coleman-Williams, Racin Delgatty and Terrance Green all banged up. — Alex Scarborough
I’m not terribly worried about Keelon’s psyche. That dude seems to be quite resilient, and I expect him to grow even more after dissecting the Georgia tape. Delgatty in particular would be a tough loss.
Alabama stayed exactly where it was in the polls, not that those matter anyway.
Texas dropped six spots to No. 7 after falling to Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown. The Longhorns were one of three SEC schools to take major falls this week. LSU dropped 12 spots to No. 22 after losing at Kentucky, and Florida dropped out of the poll after falling at South Carolina.
Kentucky was the biggest riser in this week’s poll, surging from unranked to No. 15. Close behind was UCLA, which vaulted nine spots after taking down Oregon on the road. The Ducks fell out of the poll after dropping to 3-2.
Creg Stephenson has Georgia and Alabama atop the SEC in his power rankings.
The officials certainly did the Crimson Tide no favors on Saturday night, though Alabama still showed that it has re-closed a gap with Georgia that appeared enormous by the end of last season. Keelon Russell looked mortal for the first time in several weeks, and Kalen DeBoer’s team sustained a few injuries (most notably what appeared to be a concussion for wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams) during a battle of SEC unbeatens. The trip to Rocky Top has been a treacherous one for the Crimson Tide in recent years, though this version of Tennessee doesn’t look nearly as explosive as Josh Heupel’s previous teams.
Eddie Timanus over at USA Today thinks Alabama is in fine shape despite the loss.
Actually, the Crimson Tide are probably fine. With no teams other than Georgia unscathed in the conference, Alabama’s narrow loss to the Bulldogs won’t damage the body of work.
That is, of course, as long as the Tide handle the remainder of what looks to be a manageable slate compared to other contenders. Yes, we know Auburn is a rivalry game and weird things can happen, and there are road dates at Tennessee and LSU. But there’s no Ole Miss and no Texas on the docket.
Ten wins would all but guarantee a playoff bid, and 11 would probably earn the Tide a rematch with the Bulldogs in Atlanta that would give the winner a first-round bye. Tide faithful are understandably chagrinned with Saturday’s ending, but the overall outlook for the team hasn’t appreciably changed.
This year highlights how overrated preseason rankings are. Looking at the schedule in August, it was assumed that Alabama would be in the midst of the toughest part of the schedule right now. At this point, it could be argued that the three games before Georgia were tougher than the next three. If Alabama plays their best, running the table shouldn’t be that difficult. They’re going to face some hellacious environments in Knoxville and Baton Rouge though.
Speaking of hellacious environments, some Alabama fans were throwing trash on the field after the Georgia game.
Alabama athletics released a statement to AL.com on Sunday night in response to a question about fan conduct after the loss to Georgia.
“We are disappointed by the unacceptable behavior exhibited by some of the game’s attendees last night and are in the process of gathering information,” UA athletics said in the statement. “Alabama takes matters of fan conduct seriously and expects everyone at our events to demonstrate respect to the student-athletes, coaches, staff, officials and visitors. Such conduct will not be tolerated.”
Disagreeing with the officials is not an excuse for this kind of behavior. Disgusting.
Last, SEC Shorts is back with a meeting of the Top 10.
That’s about it for today. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.
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