WATCH: Controversial pass interference call sets up Alabama's go-ahead touchdown vs Tennessee
Bryce Young certainly looked like he was feeling alright during the third quarter against Tennessee. He eluded defender after defender to set up an eventual touchdown run by Jahmyr Gibbs — but a costly Volunteers penalty helped put the Alabama in position.
Young threw a pass to the end zone when Tennessee’s De’Shawn Rucker broke it up. But officials threw a flag for defensive pass interference, which put Alabama at the two-yard line. That’s when Gibbs ran in a score to put the Crimson Tide back on top 35-34.
However, questions rose about whether or not it was the officials got it right.
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Tennessee took a 28-20 lead into halftime, but Alabama woke up in the third quarter to make things interesting at Neyland Stadium. The top-10 matchup garnered plenty of attention and hype, and through three quarters, it’s lived up to the billing.
Nick Saban critical of first half effort against Tennessee: ‘We played about as bad as we can play’
As Alabama went into the locker rooms trailing Tennessee 28-20, coach Nick Saban was extremely critical of his team’s first-half performance. The Crimson Tide managed to put up 20 points, but gave up more points in the first half to Tennessee than they’d given up in any full game all season long.
The Volunteers jumped out to an incredible lead behind a barrage of touchdown drives against the Alabama defense. With nearly the entire second quarter still to play, the Volunteers led on the scoreboard 28-10 after a mistake by Alabama’s punt return team gave them a second chance on their first stalled drive of the game.
Despite the quick scoring by Tennessee, Bryce Young and the Crimson Tide remained competitive with 20 points of their own in the half — although they still entered the locker rooms at the break with an eight-point deficit.
Saban spoke at halftime about his team’s mental mistakes and on-field errors, claiming that trailing in the one-score game was about as bad as it gets in his opinion.
“Well we played about as bad as we can play in the first half, especially on defense,” Saban said. “Lot of penalties, bad error on special teams to basically give them a score. … But we’re still in the game. We gotta come out and play better, both sides of the ball. We gotta eliminate the penalties, get some turnovers. We just gotta play our game.”