No. 11 Alabama scores 27 unanswered to beat No. 17 Tennessee, 34-20
The Volunteers had a 20-7 halftime lead
No. 11 Alabama bludgeoned No. 17 Tennessee in the second half for a 34-20 win.
The Vols led 20-7 at halftime after Joe Milton hit McCallan Castles for a TD with 12 seconds to go in the second quarter. At that point, it was fair to worry about Alabama's chances of missing the College Football Playoff, its chances of winning the SEC West and the possibility that the Crimson Tide could lose back-to-back games to Tennessee for the first time since 2003 and 2004.
Those thoughts disappeared pretty quickly after halftime. Alabama got the game back within one score less than a minute into the third quarter on Jalen Milroe’s 46-yard TD pass to Isaiah Bond. That throw was a sign of things to come for the Volunteers.
“Two plays and a touchdown changed the whole momentum of the game,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said.
Alabama outscored Tennessee 17-0 in the third quarter as it took a 24-20 lead on a 5-yard run by Jase McClellan after Tennessee decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 inside its own territory. A run up the middle out of the shotgun was foiled quickly by the Alabama defense, and McClellan got the go-ahead score less than three minutes later.
It was the second time Tennessee had gone for it on fourth down inside its own territory. In the first half, the Vols ran Milton out of the shotgun when they needed less than a yard but Milton got stopped short. But Alabama failed to capitalize on that turnover on downs when Milroe was picked off in the end zone.
The Crimson Tide ended up scoring 27 consecutive points in the second half as they added to the lead in the fourth quarter. The lead got to 14 when Milton was sacked by Chris Braswell and Jihaad Campbell returned Milton’s fumble for a TD.
Alabama still leads the SEC West
The Crimson Tide are now 5-0 in the SEC (7-0 overall) after the win and are off in Week 9 ahead of their annual rivalry game against LSU.
The game against LSU will likely determine the SEC West title, much like it did a season ago. A win by Alabama will give the Crimson Tide a two-game lead on everyone else in the division with two conference games to play. If Alabama beats LSU, Ole Miss would need to go undefeated the rest of the way through SEC play and have Alabama lose to both Kentucky and Auburn.
The Crimson Tide had just 358 total yards as Milton was 14-of-21 passing for 220 yards. But the defense was absolutely phenomenal, especially in the second half. Tennessee scored just one touchdown on four red zone trips and its five second-half possessions ended with two punts, two turnovers on downs and a drive that ended as the clock expired.
Tennessee’s SEC East hopes are close to done
The Volunteers are 2-2 in the SEC (5-2 overall) and need to beat both Georgia and Missouri and get some help if they want to get to the SEC title game.
Milton was 28-of-41 passing for 271 yards and two scores but missed two key third-down throws in the first half. Milton threw two incompletions that could have been TDs and led to a 21-0 Tennessee lead early in the game. Instead, Tennessee had to settle for two field goals and was up 13-0 before Alabama got its first TD of the game.
