“Playing (at Alabama), I enjoyed my time there, but I’m here now, and I’m with these guys here at Tennessee”, Kamara told Knoxville media Wednesday. Tennessee is 47/105 on third and fourth down conversions and opponents are 38/117. Now the betting odds for the game have the Crimson Tide favored by a comfortable margin to pick up the win.
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Not that Saban was blind to the Tide’s mistakes.
Tennessee’s offense started fast, churning out 114 yards on its first two possessions. The Tide can breath easy knowing they can address their myriad issues with all of their 2015 goals still on the table.
No. 19 Toledo 51, Massachusetts 35: Phillip Ely threw four of his five touchdown passes in the second half, and the Rockets overcame an 18-point deficit to beat UMass. “Then, when the time comes, that’s when we focus on them”. But play by play, Alabama found its way to another win.
For its part, Tennessee also whittled its way down the field.
“I don’t like to lose”, Saban said.
Then on the ensuing drive for Tennessee, the Vols answered on a Joshua Dobbs touchdown pass to wide receiver Josh Smith.
It was just enough.
When Alabama plays Tennessee it’s always a big game, but last night’s game felt bigger than usual. But that’s when the Tide took control.
Coker finished 21-of-27 passing for 247 yards with an interception.
Running back Derrick Henry has 152 carries for 901 yards and 12 touchdowns, plus 8 catches for 69 yards. Henry had 143 yards on 28 carries; Henry also had two touchdown runs.
Tennessee had taken just over a minute to drive the length of the field and take a one point fourth quarter lead.
Instead, it’s a quarterback keeper to the open side of the field where the left guard is now sealing the edge against a smaller cornerback. And it looked like they just might do that as Dobbs connected with Malone for another first down. After a false start penalty, Dobbs was sacked by Jonathan Allen back to his 21.
I have to say it would have been amusing to see a Saban with a cigar picture… but this will do nicely too. “So sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to win the game”.
This may be the one college football team in the country that has a dominant pass rush but a bad rushing defense. Jarvis Baxter coughed up a Mayfield completion at the Texas Tech 29 and Jah’Shawn Johnson raced it 50 yards to the OU 29, setting up a six-yard scoring toss from Patrick Mahomes to Reginald Davis. But aside from a win over a ranked Georgia squad two weeks ago, those types of “victories” have come far more often than real ones.
But as dominating as the Tide was against Georgia and Texas A&M, this was impressive in its own way.
“We were exhausted out there, dead-legged”, Saban said. “We’ve got five games left”. I think our players really tried. I think they were mentally and physically exhausted today. Speed to the edge isn’t the strong suit of ILBs Reggie Ragland and Reuben Foster to begin with, but they have been able to limit these types of gains with sheer effort. I thought Jake (Coker) did a fantastic job did although he did not have really good protection a lot of the time.
Because of that belief, they admitted there was a difference in feeling between this loss and the other defeats they have suffered against Alabama during the nine-game losing streak in the series. As a matter of fact, the Tennessee defensive line did a little bullying themselves on the Bama offensive line.
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And they were still celebrating the rivalry win that included a few anxious moments. Championship teams do just that.
