KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide fell to No. 11 Tennessee on Saturday with a 24-17 loss on the road.

After fifteen years of dominance in the rivalry on the third Saturday of October, Alabama has now fallen in two of the last three meetings, both of which took place in Knoxville. Although the first loss of 2022 was an all-out shootout, it became clear early on that the previous scoreline of 52-49 was never possible.

There is so much to parse from this game at Neyland Stadium, which ended in fireworks, a field storming and a few broken field goal posts. Here are five takeaways:

After the Tide’s breakout over South Carolina, there was plenty of concern about the next opponent as Alabama shifted its focus to Tennessee. The Volunteers’ high-powered offense had been in trouble the past few games, as they lost to Arkansas the same week Alabama fell to Vanderbilt, and Tennessee narrowly defeated Florida this past week despite being the host.

Saturday in Knoxville, in the “recent battle” between Tennessee’s offense and Alabama’s defense, the Crimson Tide was the winner of the first half, leading 7-0 heading into halftime.

Against the pass, Alabama held Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava to 7 of 14 attempts for 99 yards and an interception by freshman Jaylen Mbakwe in the first half. On an earlier possession, Iamaleava suffered an injury and was out of action on one play. But at that moment, backup quarterback Gaston Moore threw a pick to Tide safety Malachi Moore.

Alabama also made sure Tennessee contained Dylan Sampson, who entered the game with an SEC-best 15 rushing touchdowns, in check in the first half as he rushed for 35 yards on eight carries. That said, Sampson recorded a 20-yard run on the opening possession, but Alabama defensive lineman Jah-Marien Latham forced him to fumble and linebacker Jihaad Campbell recovered it.

Another major seasonal issue for Alabama on both ends was time of possession. But the Tide won that category 20:09 to 9:24 in the first half.

In the 2022 loss in Knoxville, Alabama set a new program record of 17 penalties. However, it is clear that the hostile environment got to the Tide once again.

Alabama recorded 15 penalties on Saturday, 10 of which came in the first half. False starts from the offensive line, holding calls from both sides of the ball and even personal fouls were detrimental to the Crimson Tide’s success.

Perhaps the most damaging flag came via a personal foul on wide receiver Kendrick Law on the final possession before the one-play game-sealing interception drive. The penalty pushed Alabama’s fourth-and-7 to a fourth-and-22, which the Tide was unable to convert, putting Tennessee the ball within field goal range with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.

“With the two games earlier this year and this one, you just can’t get over the hump, and it’s going to put you in some situations where your back is against the wall,” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said. during the post-match press conference. “We can’t kill ourselves like this. There are times when you see we’re locked in, but we have to be better. We have to be better. There’s no doubt about it. You can’t win football.” game when you make mistakes like we had there and all the penalties.”

Flags were too common after Alabama’s aforementioned takeaways, as they prevented the Tide from adding more points on the board in the first half despite being set up in good field position after the interceptions and fumble recoveries.

After the clumsy opening drive, Alabama center Parker Brailsford’s false start on second-and-long resulted in a punt a few plays later. Following Moore’s interception, a holding call on left tackle Kadyn Proctor, combined with a stoppage of play shortly thereafter, also resulted in a punt.

However, Alabama’s offense overall struggled to move the ball on Saturday night, as even without a flag on Iamaleava’s interception, the Tide went ahead with a three-and-out. Alabama punter James Burnip finished the game with seven punts for 327 yards (46.7 average) with a long of 59 yards, while two punts landed inside the 20-yard line.

Tennessee’s defense really shut down the Alabama offense, as the Tide’s 17 points were their fewest since the 44-16 2018-19 National Championship loss to Clemson. Dating back to the Citrus Bowl, the Vols have scored fewer than 20 points in their last eight games, a feat they haven’t achieved since 1985.

Since the instant classic win at Georgia, Alabama has made similar use of running backs Jam Miller and Justice Haynes on a weekly basis. The two are both noticeable in the first half, both through the air and on the ground, but not in the second half.

This continued against the Vols, but the run game wasn’t exactly used much in either half. Miller and Haynes were held in check in the first half, combining to record 9 carries for 16 yards. The 1-2 punch finished the game with 20 total rushes for 64 yards and a touchdown from Haynes.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe had far from his best game against the Vols through the air and on the ground, but the throwing game plan held true throughout as he finished with a far and away career-high 45 pass attempts (33 was his previous personal best ), thus completing his career. 25 of them (56 percent). While their first halves were sub-par, extra effort in the second half for Miller and Haynes could have chewed up the clock a bit more in the second half, giving the defense more time to rest.

“They’re a physical defense up front, and we knew you’d have to have a mix of running and passing,” DeBoer said. “I also tried to use J-Mil in the running game, but I was just trying to get a flow. I was trying to find a time where you could get into a rhythm. The penalties hurt us to where you were behind the sticks. ..If you don’t have the explosives, it’s just too hard to stack the plays the length of the field. You have to have some kind of explosive plays.”

Sampson and Iamaleava woke up on the Vols’ second drive of the third quarter when the running back had three carries for a total of 51 yards, while the quarterback had a run of 27 yards. Sampson slid in for a two-yard score on his fourth attempt of the drive.

After an Alabama field goal, Sampson’s touchdown to regain the lead, but a 55-yard connection between Iamaleava and wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. set up another short touchdown run for Sampson to take a 14-10 lead late in the third quarter. . In the third quarter alone, Tennessee outgained the Tide in passing yards and rushing yards and was only less than two minutes behind at time of possession. Sampson had 71 yards on just eight carries (8.9 yards per attempt) and two touchdowns in the 15 minutes of play.

“That’s what great teams do,” Alabama defensive lineman Tim Smith said after the game. “You go into the halftime locker room, figure things out, analyze it, break it down and come up with something new. They’ve made a few adjustments. I think it worked for them, but that’s what all great teams do .”

A pair of short and medium wins, which the Tide has found difficult to stop of late, quickly put the Vols in the red zone, and the drive ended with a hard-to-grab 17-yard touchdown reception that allowed Chris Brazzell II to regain the lead . After some more clock-chewing with short gains and a few punts in, a fourth-down stop by the Vols defense immediately put Tennessee within field goal range, which it converted to take a lead of seven with less than two minutes to go.

Tennessee won nearly every statistical category in the fourth quarter, including a time-of-possession score of 10:22 to 4:38. For total play, Tennessee recorded more total yards, nearly triple its rushing yards, finished 6-of-14 on third down despite going 1-of-5 in the first half, and more average yards per play, completion and hast. .