KNOXVILLE, Tenn.–– Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer had a pretty blunt message for his team after it suffered a second straight loss on Saturday night at Tennessee: get ready to be uncomfortable.
"I just said it’s going to be really uncomfortable," DeBoer said after the game. "It’s not like I didn’t feel like they didn’t practice. We had a lot of motivation to come back and have a great week and prepare for this game, but moving forward, it’s going to be another level of uncomfortable a lot of guys have’t been through the last year or last two. I know they feel it, and our older guys had mentioned that even a few weeks ago just what it’s going to be like here on this stretch."
No. 14 Tennessee shut out No. 6 Alabama in the second half for a 26-10 victory. The Crimson Tide's offense was lifeless for the majority of the game, struggling to move the ball on top of four turnovers and five sacks allowed.
The Crimson Tide (5-2, 3-2 SEC) should have had plenty of motivation to bounce back after taking Georgia down to the wire last week in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Instead, the offense sputtered the entire game, and the defense couldn't get off the field in the fourth quarter.
Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell threw his first interception since Week 2 at Kentucky and finished with 147 yards, two interceptions, one fumble and a rushing touchdown. He was quick to take the blame upon himself after the game, but Russell wasn't the only issue.
"Just a learning moment," Russell said. "You win some, you lose some. You’ve got to get back up on your feet. Nobody’s going to hold their head down. But we hate to lose.. Gotta keep pushing forward. A lot of games left in the season. I 100 percent believe this team’s going to go all the way, so we’ve just got to put our head high and keep going.”
If Alabama still wants to make the College Football Playoff, its margin of error has all but vanished heading into the final five games. Next up for the Crimson Tide is a homecoming matchup with Texas A&M before a much-needed bye week as it tries to get some key players healthy again.
Alabama ends the season with four games in November at LSU, at Vanderbilt before hosting Chattanooga and Auburn. Texas A&M (4-3) has underperformed this season, but it is still a talented roster coming off a CFP run. LSU shut out Mississippi State on Saturday, and Auburn upset No. 1 Georgia on the road.
The Crimson Tide will have to show up and play hard in every SEC game. Slow starts or mistake-riddled games are no longer going to cut it.
"The key is that you just hone in on one game," DeBoer said. "Don’t look at the big picture, just hone in on one game. And believe that you have a team that can get it done. I felt like at the end of the game just looking at the guys in their eyes and stuff that they were scrapping until the end and were going to keep playing. That’s what this is going to be about moving forward is continuing to believe that we’re going to find a way. You’ve got to pick up and come to work. You just mentioned the SEC and all the teams— everyone’s going through it, so who’s going to respond and get it done.
"We’ve been through this before, and we’ve gotten it done. So we’ve got to make sure we get it done here moving forward. I told the guys, this is a team that can do it. This is a team that can do that. You’ve gotta catch some breaks, stay healthy, but that’s everyone across the board.”
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