No. 11 Tennessee puts No. 7 Alabama’s playoff hopes in serious jeopardy with a 24-17 win

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Halloween came early Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium. A horde of sloppy, undisciplined football players spent the first half of Saturday’s game between Alabama and Tennessee dressed as the former No. 1 and No. 4 teams in the country. However, the real deal showed itself in the second half and the result was a 24-17 win for No. 11 volunteers.

There are no points for style, however, and Tennessee has cleared another hurdle in its pursuit of a playoff spot and a possible SEC Championship berth. With two losses, Alabama faces a much more uncertain path in a crowded playoff field.

No. 7 Alabama had a chance to take the lead with two minutes left at 21-17, but receiver Kendrick Law was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for pushing UT defender Arion Carter. Carter had gotten in Law’s face – and narrowly hit him past Law in retaliation – but Law was the only player stopped.

This forced Alabama into a fourth down with 22 yards to go. Coach Kalen DeBoer chose to go for it rather than throw it away in all three timeouts, and Jalen Milroe’s completion to Justice Haynes fell well short of the first down.

The Crimson Tide prevented Tennessee from getting a first down, forcing the Vols to kick a field goal and extend the lead to seven. Alabama had one more shot to score a touchdown, and that chance lasted an entire play when Milroe threw an interception on Alabama’s first play to safety Will Brooks.

Before Alabama’s two failed comebacks, Tennessee took the lead for good with 5:52 left when Nico Iamaleava hit Chris Brazzell Jr. for a fantastic 16-yard touchdown.

Two weeks ago, this game looked like it would be one of the most legendary setbacks of the season, with Alabama at No. 1 and Tennessee at No. 4. But both teams have since struggled with a loss and an unremarkable rebound performance, and so on Both came into the game with their SEC Championship hopes lost and their aura clearly tarnished.

The first half did little to improve perceptions of both teams as overrated and/or untrustworthy. Both quarterbacks lacked accuracy, both lines took penalty after penalty, both offenses sputtered, both kickers missed field goals with ugly attempts, both porous defenses gave up huge chunk plays.

Playing under a gorgeous blue sky and in front of a huge orange crowd, Tennessee couldn’t come close to being competent on offense. Redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava is far from his early-season peak, spending much of the first half sending passes well over the heads or out of reach of his receivers.

Tennessee’s first-half offense was an ugly parade of failures: fumble, punt, missed field goal, interception, interception, missed field goal. A promising first drive ended when Dylan Sampson gave up the ball at Alabama’s 20. Iamaleava briefly left the game with an injury, and his replacement, Gaston Moore, immediately threw an interception right into the hands of Alabama’s Malachi Moore. Iamaleava’s return briefly revitalized Tennessee’s offense – until he threw a terrible interception on a botched play deep in the red zone.

The only reason Tennessee was even in the game at the end of the first half was because Alabama’s offense was only marginally more competent. Jalen Milroe continued to fall from the heights he reached in the first half against Georgia, his attacks starting late and his passes falling off target. The low point came late in the first quarter when he threw an end zone interception deep in Tennessee territory that put Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy in numbers.

Alabama managed to get the ball into the end zone itself on its next drive, and Milroe found Ryan (he’s only 17) Williams for a five-yard touchdown pass on the one drive in the first half where Alabama seemed deadlocked . After the Tide missed a late field goal attempt, the first half ended like this. Alabama 7, Tennessee 0, turnovers total 4, missed field goals total 3.

The Vols opened the second half with another series of overthrows and misses from Iamaleava, although at least one – a deep pass on the Alabama 15 to Squirrel White – seemed at least potentially catchable. Alabama responded with eight straight rushes and a stall at midfield. Whatever adjustments Kalen DeBoer and Josh Heupel made at halftime, they had no immediate impact.

However, on its second possession of the second half, Tennessee discovered something. Sampson broke off a 36-yard run, and then Iamaleava fought his way another 27 yards to the edge of the end zone. Sampson capped the drive with a two-yard run that tied the game with 6:32 left in the third quarter.

Alabama drove to the Tennessee 14 on the next series, but two direct throws from Milroe in the end zone forced the Tide to settle for a field goal to make the game 10-7.

And then, with just over a minute left in the third quarter, Iamaleava finally looked like the bomb thrower of the early season and finally found a deep target – Dont’e Thornton Jr., who made a spectacular 55-yard pass down the stretch to the Alabama 3. One play later, Sampson thundered in for his second touchdown of the game and Tennessee had its first lead of the game.

It wouldn’t last. Alabama also found its bearings, executing a nearly flawless six-play, 75-yard drive in just over two minutes to retake the lead at 17-14. Germie Bernard caught the biggest pass of the drive, a 28-yarder that put Alabama back in Tennessee’s red zone. And this time, Alabama didn’t risk a pass; Justice Haynes stormed into the end zone from seven yards out, virtually untouched.

Cruel penalties halted Tennessee’s next drive, but the Volunteers’ punt team managed to pin Alabama at its own 4. Milroe narrowly fended off a sack that would have been a safety, and Alabama hit the ball back to Tennessee at midfield.

Again Iamaleava hit his target and placed a pass directly into the hands of the flying Brazzell, giving him the go-ahead touchdown.