KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Alabama's offense had it all.
For the first five weeks of the season, Alabama became the first FBS team since 2019 to score 45-plus points in as many games. It went into last week's matchup with Georgia as the No. 2 scoring offense in the country (Georgia was No. 1), but only scored 17 points in the loss — UA's fewest at home since 2011.
After a week of figuring out ways to rebound from the loss, the Crimson Tide fell again to Tennessee on the road on Saturday. The final score was 26-10, as Alabama lost back-to-back games for the first time since 2013. Sure, the Tide faced two elite defenses the past couple of weeks, but how has offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb's unit disintegrated so rapidly?
"There's got to be some continuity and a run game that is going to set up some opportunities for us to be able to have a whole offense available," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said during the postgame press conference. "In the end, it's hard to drive the ball play after play for three or four yards a play in a drive, especially if you have some penalties on top of it and end up in the zone."
The run game was Alabama's main weakness last season, as its rushing totals were among the worst in the FBS, not just the SEC. The Crimson Tide fired offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic in the offseason and replaced him with USC defensive analyst Adrian Klemm.
Alabama's three-headed monster of running backs Daniel Hill, Trae'shawn Brown and EJ Crowell nearly doubled UA's rushing yards per game from last season through the first three contests, and that reflected in the extremely high-scoring production.
It had its moments against Georgia but struggled in the second half. Alabama starting center Racin Delgatty sat the Tennessee game out due to an injury, and while his absence was apparent, it shouldn't be the main takeaway from the rushing totals: 26 carries, 54 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Keelon Russell had Alabama's lone trip to the end zone, tallying 19 of those 54 yards on that play alone.
Russell and the offense finished with 201 total yards, including 147 passing and two interceptions on 19 of 29 attempts. DeBoer reiterated that the run game, combined with penalties and a lack of explosive plays, contributed to this. Additionally, as the numbers suggest, Tennessee consistently reached the backfield for tackles for loss and the Volunteers also collected five sacks.
They got a pass-rush, and so when you get down in distances, that becomes a little bit more past past situations. You know, they can pin their ears back. Obviously, they got to Keelon early to keep us from being able to really get anything going. We say stay on the field to get anything going, and that kind of wears on you, I don't care who you are as a quarterback."
Getting the run game back on track will also open up the play action, which DeBoer said was "nonexistent" against the Vols. But that's easier said than done.
"We've got to make sure we continue to hone in on just some of the things that we're really good at and can execute because that's where you can get your chunk plays and that's where you the explosive athletes and players can go get the job done.
"But, to me, I don't know what the explosives were today, but again, the run game sets that up. So we've got to have a little bit of both feeding off each other. When we've been rolling as an offense, usually both of those things are in sync and working together."
Alabama moves to 5-2, including a 3-2 record against the SEC. If the offense can't find a way to get back on track and perform how it did when it was 5-0, the Crimson Tide is in trouble. While a 24-team College Football Playoff Field will begin next season, it's still 12 teams this year.
Alabama lost twice during the regular season in 2025 and made the CFP as the No. 9 seed. But no three-loss team has ever made the CFP and that trend will very likely continue this year. The Tide is in the midst of the gauntlet portion of its schedule and will have to essentially win out for a spot that isn't necessarily guaranteed.
The Crimson Tide will host Texas A&M on Oct. 24 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. After that, Alabama will face LSU in Baton Rouge. While the teams they lost to are different from Alabama, the Tigers also have two losses and are in a similar make-or-break boat.
Alabama needs to fix itself on offense, and any more regression will doom its season.
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