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Tennessee Vols Lose to Alabama Crimson Tide 19-14

By Caleb Calhoun

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The Tennessee Volunteers football team lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide 19-14 in a hard-fought game in Tuscaloosa Saturday.

Ryan Anderson of Alabama sacked Joshua Dobbs and forced a fumble, which Alabama recovered, allowing them to subsequently run out the clock and secure a 19-14 victory over the Tennessee Vols.

Derrick Henry had a 14-yard touchdown run, his second of the day, to give the Alabama Crimson Tide a 19-14 lead over the Vols with 2:24 left in the fourth quarter. That drive was set up by two fade passes from Jake Coker.

Coker finished the game 21 of 27 for 247 passing yards despite no touchdowns and one interceptions. Henry, meanwhile, finished the game with 28 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

The next drive, a penalty, a sack by Jonathan Allen, and then the sack by Anderson secured the victory.

The drive was a response to a four-play, 80-yard Tennessee Vols drive that gave Butch Jones’s team a 14-13 lead, the first the Vols had over the Tide in the second half since 2006, the last time they beat them.

Jalen Hurd gave the Vols the lead on a 10-yard touchdown run with less than six minutes left. Hurd finished the game with 92 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown, while Joshua Dobbs, who threw two great passes to set up the touchdown, finished with 16 carries for 19 yards and 13 of 22 for 171 yards and a touchdown.

Before that, Alabama had taken a 13-7 after a long drive that was stalled and ended with an Adam Griffith field goal, the second long drive of the half for the Tide that ended like that.

Griffith nailed a 19-yard field goal for the Tide on the opening drive of the third quarter to give Nick Saban’s team a 10-7 lead over the Vols.

The score remained that going into the fourth.

Tennessee ended the third quarter driving the ball in Alabama territory. But Aaron Medley missed his third field goal of the day, which was his second attempt beyond 50 yards.

Medley missed a 51-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, and the Vols and Tide went into the locker room with an unlikely 7-7 tie at halftime in Tuscaloosa.

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Tennessee took the opening drive into Alabama territory, but they came away with no points after Dobbs was sacked and Medley missed a 43-yard field goal.

Alabama then capped off the following drive with a touchdown run by Derrick Henry to take a 7-0 lead. But that lead did not last long.

Tennessee took the kickoff on the next drive and responded with its own 80-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a pass from Dobbs to Josh Smith in the back of the end zone.

After that, the half went scoreless, although both teams were able to move the ball at times.

The biggest highlight for the Vols was the pass rush stepping up after that first drive and Brian Randolph coming up with an interception when Alabama was in Tennessee territory.

It was a shock to see this one being a defensive struggle, but this is mainly due to the play of Reggie Ragland for Alabama and Jalen Reeves-Maybin for Tennessee, who combined for 11 total tackles and three and a half tackles for a loss in the first quarter alone.

The Alabama linebackers did a great job keeping an eye on Joshua Dobbs for most of the first half, staying in spy and sticking with the Tennessee receivers.

Tennessee fell to 3-4 on the year and 1-3 in the conference, effectively ending their bid for an SEC East title.

Alabama, meanwhile, moved to 7-1 and gets a much-needed bye week before they get set to play the LSU Tigers in two weeks.

Next: Vols Legend Peyton Manning at Tennessee-Alabama Game

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