Tennessee Football: Three keys to the Vols beating Alabama

It’s well known that Alabama has one of the best teams in College Football, but there is a way that Tennessee and Jeremy Pruitt could beat his former team.

The Tennessee Volunteers are not that great of a football team. I think that’s pretty clear through the first six games of the season, but over the past couple of weeks, the Vols defense has gotten better, which could be a big asset in the Alabama game.

No one actually expects Tennessee to beat Alabama, but no one also expected North Carolina to beat Clemson, but they were mighty close. Now, just a couple of years ago, the Tar Heels were one of the worst teams in college football, and they almost beat the reigning National Champions.

I still have SEC-bias, so I think Tennessee-Alabama is a bit different than North Carolina-Clemson, but there are some takeaways Jeremy Pruitt can take from that game.

Mac Brown made it clear in an interview before the game that he knows, and his players know that they don’t have the best team. A weird way to motivate your team, but it worked.

He told his players that they don’t have the best team, but they can be the best team that day. They have to play perfect, and the coaches have to coach perfect to beat Clemson.

I’m not going to lie when I watched this interview that Saturday morning I scoffed at Brown and said he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I was proved wrong, and that’s why I’m not a college head football coach.

Tennessee could learn a lot from that game and use the good things that happened for North Carolina as an advantage, and they can learn from the bad things. Another game they can turn to is the South Carolina-Georgia game that occurred on Saturday.

Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs have a similar playstyle as Alabama, at least on defense. Tennessee’s offense looked pretty good in the first half of the game against Georgia but was not able to continue things into the second half.

With a backup quarterback, South Carolina was able to march on to a double-overtime victory over the Bulldogs thanks to a missed Georgia field goal in double-overtime.

So what can Tennessee do to pull out the miraculous upset over Alabama? The Crimson Tide have some of the best players in the country, but they’re still human.

If Tennessee wants to win their game against Alabama, one thing they have to do is force Alabama to commit more penalties. If Tennessee loses the penalty battle, they have no chance at beating Alabama.

The Vols need to rely on Alabama’s mistakes and force them to stall on drives after offensive penalties. If Tennessee can find a way to force that and not commit bad penalties when they possess the ball, then they will be one step closer to getting the win.

Being bailed out on penalties will be just one step towards success. If the Vols rely on that as the main source of on-field success, then they will not get close to winning.

If Brian Maurer is a no-go for Tennessee, then the Vols will have to rely on Jarrett Guarantano under center to get the job done. If that’s the case, then the run game is going to have to be the best its been all season.

The Alabama defensive backs are ball hawks and have a combined five interceptions this season. If the Vols decide to throw it, then the deep ball will be our enemy. They will need to find a way to create holes in the Alabama defense within 15 yards from the line of scrimmage.

We all know how good the Alabama offense is. We’ve seen them score touchdown after touchdown on every team they’ve played so far. It’s very unlikely the Tennessee defense will stop the offense from scoring, but the Vols don’t want to get in a shootout either.

Tennessee needs to take advantage of every time they stop Alabama on offense and come away with some kind of points in result. If Tennessee doesn’t score when Alabama can’t, then it’s going to be difficult for Tennessee to keep up with the Crimson Tide.

Of course, there’s a lot more that goes into beating a team like Alabama, but if Tennessee can force Alabama to commit more penalties, have success with the run game, and take advantage of the drives Alabama don’t score and put points on the board for yourself, then there’s a start.

The offense and defense are both looking better for Tennessee, and if they can use their current momentum and make a few things go their way next Saturday, then they might be able to keep things close and give themselves a chance late.