Alabama Football: Crimson Tide Offense vs Tennessee’s Defense

For those of you who’ve been living under a rock, there is a massive game on Saturday between the unbeaten #3 Crimson Tide of Alabama Football, and the upstart #6 Tennessee Volunteers, who also come into the game undefeated.

Much has been said about the Volunteers top-ranked offense and Heisman hopeful, quarterback Hendon Hooker, and rightfully so.

In this article however, I want to breakdown what Alabama’s offense has to do, if they want to escape Knoxville with a win.

What does Alabama Football’s offense have to do to beat Tennessee?

The biggest question leading up to Saturday, is whether or not Bryce Young will play. The reigning Heisman Trophy winning quarterback was injured against Arkansas two weeks ago, and it hasn’t been announced whether or not he’ll take the field in Tennessee.

Without him, the Tide’s offense struggled mightily against Texas A&M this last week, inching their way to a 24-20 win.

Jalen Milroe started at quarterback this last week, going 12-for-19 passing, throwing for 111 yards and 3 touchdowns, with one interception. Even with the 3 TD passes, Alabama Football’s offense was sluggish, non-explosive, and all around stagnant, turning the ball over four times.

If it wasn’t for Jahmyr Gibbs’ 153 yards on the ground, and key plays from Alabama’s defense in critical moments, the Aggies might’ve pulled off the upset.

Looking ahead to Saturday, what can Bill O’Brien scheme up for the Tide’s offense? We’re all anticipating the Tennessee offense to put up points, but how is Alabama going to respond and hang around?

First things first, and this is the case whether or not Bryce Young is playing, you have to continue making Jahmyr Gibbs a priority. In the last two games, Gibbs has rushed for a combined 360 yards. The transfer from Georgia Tech has established himself as one of the more electrifying backs in college football.

As a team, Alabama’s ground game has been looking like it’s 2009 again. So far in 2022, Bama is averaging 257.5 yards per game running the ball, which is 1st in the SEC and 3rd nationally. They’ll be tested on Saturday, as the Volunteers come into the game with a top-10 rushing defense, allowing just 89.4 yards per game on the ground.

Establishing the run game early will be important, as well as controlling the time of possession battle. Now I think TOP is somewhat of an overrated stat, unless you’re playing a team and an offense like Tennessee. The Vols offense is the best in college football, having just put up 40 points in Baton Rouge, and they can score in a heartbeat.

Sustaining drives and wearing out that Volunteers defense will keep the Alabama defense and secondary fresh. Will Anderson and the linebackers won’t be gassed up the second quarter.

While the running game is solid for the Tide, the passing game has to step up and become a bigger threat. Averaging 246.5 passing yards per game, which ranks 68th nationally, it’s not the type of Alabama Football offense we’ve become accustomed to seeing the last several seasons, airing it out and beating teams with their weapons at receiver and quarterback.

Young being injured certainly doesn’t help, but we saw against Texas A&M, this is not an offense designed to be conservative and play smash mouth football. Jermaine Burton, JoJo Earle, Ja’Corey Brooks, among others, have to be given the chance to get in space and make plays.

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Brooks can become that WR1 that the Crimson Tide are looking for, and he currently leads the team with 18.6 yards per reception. Burton is a solid number two option, with Traeshon Holden starting to also become an effective tool, and with a team-high 4 touchdown receptions, he’s especially dangerous in the redzone.

With Gibbs leading the team in receptions (22), the Volunteers will surely make shutting him down a priority. That’ll only create more opportunities for receivers like Burton, Brooks, etc. Basically, Saturday is the perfect opportunity for a WR1 to emerge.

If they’re looking for a speedster that can burn the defense and make those game-changing explosive plays at receiver, I think freshman Isaiah Bond can be that guy. He only has 6 receptions so far this year, but we saw him make a big play against Arkansas, and maybe it’s against Tennessee where he starts to have a bigger role in the Bama offense.

Same goes for fellow freshman Kobe Prentice, who could become a major weapon for the offense moving forward.

Now, whether or not Young is playing, that’ll obviously determine what kind of passing attack we’ll see from this offense. If it’s Milroe again, while he has tons of potential, opposing teams and secondaries don’t fear him as a passer, at least not yet. So if he’s starting, expect to see more conservative play-calling from O’Brien, with a healthy dose of Gibbs.

Tennessee has a much better offense than Texas A&M, so Alabama can’t afford to go scoreless in the second half, relying on their defense late in the game to preserve a win. The offense has to respond and put up points.

Myself, I’ll be watching Young or Milroe, of course. Though, it’s Bill O’Brien who I’m most excited to watch. Several programs are targeting him to be their next head coach, but what kind of gameplan is he going to throw at Tennessee? Does he adapt his offense? Does he scheme around Alabama Football’s very talented, though unproven receivers? Does O’Brien’s stock go up or down on Saturday?

I can’t wait.