Instant Analysis from Alabama's 26-10 loss to Tennessee

For BamaCentral.com, I'm Katie Windham here with Hunter DeCiver and Theo Fernandez. And what's now an empty Neyland Stadium was a super loud Neyland Stadium a couple hours ago after Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10, third straight win over the Crimson Tide here in Neyland, becoming a not-fun place for Alabama to play. And it was again today. And it kind of just started from the beginning with Alabama fumbling on its first offensive possession. Hunter, just what did you see from the offense today that kind of sputtered and stumbled and just could not ever get anything consistent going? Yeah, I mean, first five games, we're all thinking Alabama's offense is back. They're scoring 45-plus every single game. That hasn't been done this decade. And run game, which was a huge issue last year, collapsed today. They had, I believe, 56 rushing yards on, like, 20 carries. And 19 of those yards came on one play for Keelan Russell's touchdown. So run game was disastrous. And then going with the pass rush, Tennessee easily got to Keelan Russell all the time. I know Alabama's offensive line was banged up. Ray Stavalkati was out. But the amount of times that Keelan got sacked five times, I don't believe Alabama's come close to that at all this season. It's just because it was a total issue for offense tonight. I mean, that really needs to get fixed. We go with the win in Alabama's offensive line. It hasn't given up that much before if their defense hasn't. I think the defense has gotten that many sacks once. But tonight, the pass rush just wasn't there. I think you came into this game knowing some of the keys. If you look at some of our stories throughout the week of what Alabama was going to have to do, and they just didn't do any of those things. The defense held its own for most of the game. It's why Alabama was in the game, but then the fourth quarter when it needed to get off the field and get a stop, it couldn't do it, and that's just kind of a continued theme from last week. But, Theo, just kind of what is your take on this Crimson Tide team right now? Two losses in a row, a feeling Alabama fans are not used to. The players, I don't think, are used to it either. Do you see something in this team that they can and will respond in these last five games of the regular season? Just kind of what's your overall takeaway from this team right now? First of all, I apologize if you see me shaking a little bit. Very cold out here. Ryan Grubbs' game plan froze this place over. It was atrocious. This team is uninspiring. This team has put forth an absolutely abysmal effort in this game. And now for the third season in a row, Alabama's back is against the wall. And for the second time in three years, it comes right after the Tennessee game. There is no margin for error for this team. You have to beat a top 10 A&M team entering the season. You have to beat a Vanderbilt team you have no business losing to on the road. Does that sound familiar? You have to beat LSU in an elimination game in Death Valley. And you have to beat an Auburn team that just knocked off number one Georgia. Can Alabama win all those games? Absolutely. Do you guys, after what you saw on that field, think that is the most likely outcome? Because I sure do not. I have very little faith in this Crimson Tide team. I think that Kalen DeBoer had done an excellent job entering this week, lost a lot of stock goodwill today. Just an absolute embarrassment of a performance from a team that shows it is capable of so much more. And, yes, you did have some very key injuries that caused a lot of issues, but I think you would hope or think as an Alabama fan coming off a loss that it would be an inspired team, an inspired effort today, a rivalry game. which, honestly, I don't know how much these players care about a rivalry with Tennessee. A lot of them aren't from here because of the long streak of dominance that Alabama had. I don't know if they honestly care that much. The Tennessee fans certainly do. I don't know if the Alabama players do. But the inspiration just wasn't there from the beginning. Like you said, Theo, can they win these next five games? Absolutely. I think they're probably better than those other teams. Texas A&M, though, has a really talented roster. Like you said, top ten coming in the year, coming off a playoff run. LSU, really talented roster they spend a lot of money on. Auburn would like nothing more than to ruin Alabama's season. like they put a big dent in Georgia's season tonight. So there's tough things ahead. I think Alabama really has just got to get through this Texas A&M game coming up somehow and then get into the bye and try and get healthy. But that's looking ahead a little bit. That'll wrap it up for us from here tonight in Neyland Stadium. Thank you so much for watching.