Tennessee players discuss collapse at Alabama
Tennessee and Alabama battled back and forth on Saturday afternoon as a rivalry was most definitely renewed after the Vol win last season. After the game, Tennessee players met the media to discuss the 34-20 loss to the Tide.
The Vols got the ball first and went down the field on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown pass from Joe Milton to Squirrel White. The play was reviewed and the call on the field was upheld after replay showed White catch the pass, then drag one foot across the goal line before falling out of bounds. Milton completed all five pass attempts on the drive, throwing for 60 yards. Milton was really solid after throwing for just 100 yards last week.
“You have to be able to play the next play and play assignment sound football and how we operate, no matter where the momentum is,” Milton said. “Just do your job. That is all that matters and all it comes down to.”
The Tennessee defense forced multiple turnovers and got after the Crimson Tide. James Pearce, Omarr Norman Lott and Gabe Jeudy-Lally all got home to sack Jalin Milroe.
“It is always tough to take one on the chin at the end of the day,” Jeudy-Lally said following the loss. “We have to learn from it and bounce back. We have a game coming up this weekend.”
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Tennessee generated its second takeaway when Jaylen McCollough intercepted Milroe in the corner of the end zone on a pass that bounced off the shoulder of Jermaine Burton. The Vols went down the field the other direction with a 14-yard pass to White, a 30-yard pass to Ramel Keyton and capped the touchdown drive with a six-yard pass from Milton to tight end McCallan Castles. The drive went 80 yards in 10 plays, taking 2:58 off the clock and leaving Alabama with just 12 seconds to work with.
Alabama would get going in the second half as the found much better spacing. The Tide needed just two plays and only 41 seconds to open the scoring in the second half. Jase McClellan ran for 29 yards on first down, then Milroe threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond to get it back to a one-possession game, cutting the Tennessee lead down to six.
“I didn’t feel like we came out with that get it done mentality, that win the line of scrimmage mentality, and I feel like that was the difference between the second half and the first half,” Vols linebacker Elijah Herring said in post-game.
The Tide scored 17 in the third quarter and took their first lead of the game with 3:42 to go in the third stanza. They would outscore the Vols 27-0 in the second half.
