Tennessee football beats Alabama with stellar defense and clutch offense

Knoxville, Tennessee, enjoyed rivalry week for two straight weeks after Florida and Alabama made trips to Rocky Top. The Third Saturday in October was just as intense as the week prior, where Tennessee survived Florida. 

Tennessee handled business again against Alabama. The last time the Crimson Tide were in Knoxville, the Vols walked off a thriller with a game-winning field goal to win the first game against Alabama since 2006 in Nick Saban's final trip to Neyland Stadium. 

Kalen DeBoer made his first trip to Neyland Stadium as Alabama's head coach, and he left the same way Saban left in 2022: with a loss. Tennessee bested DeBoer's Crimson Tide 24-17 in the 107th meeting of the two rivals. 

Tennessee's defense put on a stellar performance and shut down veteran quarterback Jalen Milroe and the Alabama offense. Alabama finished the night with 314 total yards but only 75 yards on the ground. Besides a couple of drives throughout the game, Alabama couldn't find any success in their running game. 

Forcing the Tide to be one-dimensional put their offense in a bind despite having one of the best quarterbacks in college football running an efficient and effective DeBoer offense. Alabama scored seven points in the first half and ten points in the second half, the two lowest-scoring halves this season for the Alabama offense. 

The Vols had to lean on many young guys to keep Alabama out of the end zone, including sophomore cornerback Jermod McCoy. He continues to prove he is one of the most valuable players on Tennessee's roster and a big reason why the Vols will be 6-1 heading into November. 

McCoy had a clutch interception in the first half, ending Alabama's drive in the red zone. Safety Will Brooks, who isn't young but doesn't have much playing experience, sealed the deal for the Vols and picked the second interception from Milroe to end the game. 

Tennessee had a few turnovers, including another opening drive fumble, which ended a promising start to the game. Gaston Moore and Nico Iamaleava also had one interception each. 

Moore entered the game after Nico went down with an injury and immediately threw an interception. Nico returned the next offensive drive but struggled to get the offense going. 

The Vols were shut out in the first half for the third straight game, the first time that has happened to a Tennessee offense since 1963. Similar to the Florida game, Tennessee opened things up in the second half, scoring all 24 points, including ten unanswered, to take a seven-point lead with no second-half turnovers. 

Nico missed a handful of passes and overthrew his receivers throughout the game, and receivers dropped some passes that should have been caught, but when it came down to making plays to win a rivalry game, Nico was able to connect with his receivers and win his first Third Saturday in October. 

Tennessee will head into its off week on the highs of cigar smoke, and back-to-back rivalry wins. The Vols will turn to Kentucky in a couple of weeks to begin the final stretch of conference play, with Mississippi State, Georgia, and Vanderbilt remaining after the Kentucky game.