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Tennessee football: Alabama hangover looming against South Carolina?

By Billy Williford

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 20: Brian Robinson Jr. #24 of the Alabama Crimson Tide is tackled by Defensive lineman Emmit Gooden #93 of the Tennessee Volunteers, Linebacker Daniel Bituli #35 of the Tennessee Volunteers, and Linebacker Matt Ballard of the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half of the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 20: Brian Robinson Jr. #24 of the Alabama Crimson Tide is tackled by Defensive lineman Emmit Gooden #93 of the Tennessee Volunteers, Linebacker Daniel Bituli #35 of the Tennessee Volunteers, and Linebacker Matt Ballard of the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half of the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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Jeremy Pruitt and the Tennessee football team head to Columbia, SC looking to get back on track after a 58-21 beatdown from the Crimson Tide. Will there be a hangover?

No one expected the Vols to beat Alabama. The Crimson Tide are on an entirely different level. Quite frankly they are making college football less fun for everyone.

One of the questions that fans always love to speculation on is can Nick Saban’s Alabama team beat the worst team in the NFL that particular season. However, the problem has always been the offense hasn’t been explosive.

You can’t use that excuse this season. The Tide might have the best offense in the nation; they are that good. So for Tennessee, losing to them doesn’t change anything for the rest of the season. Or does it? Will there be an Alabama hangover against the Gamecocks?

Since 1998, the Vols have played Alabama and South Carolina in back-to-back weeks 16 times. In ten losses to the Tide the week before South Carolina, the Vols are 4-6 against the Gamecocks.

In the past ten years, the schedule has set up with Alabama-South Carolina in back-to-back game seven times. Tennessee is just 2-5 in those games. So, maybe the hangover is real. Or maybe it was just the incompetent coaches.

2016 was the most recent example of the dreaded hangover. The Vols were sitting at the top of the SEC East with a 5-2 record with wins over Florida and Georiga. They controlled their own destiny, yet somehow Butch Jones managed to lose to South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

One of the positives heading into South Carolina week is the game has been really close over the past couple of years. Since 2012, the highest margin of victory was six points which came last season, in Tennessee’s worst season in the history of the football program.

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The Vols are 3-4 and need three more wins in the final five games. They can’t afford to have an Alabama hangover against a South Carolina team coming off a bye week. Can Pruitt have his Vols ready to give Will Muschamp his first loss against Tennessee?

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