Prior to Alabama’s loss to Georgia, it appeared the Crimson Tide would be going into Knoxville with clearly the better team, and as a heavy favorite in its quest to continue tilting the all-time UA-UT series toward the crimson side of the ledger.
That was before three key Alabama players – WR Ryan Coleman-Williams, C Racin Degatty and DT Terrance Green – were knocked out of the Georgia game, and two of those, Coleman-Williams and Green, find themselves listed as out on the most recent player availability report for this week. Delgatty is also expected to spend the game on the sideline, but there’s a slim chance he’ll be available.
Injuries are part of the normal procedure in football, and some fans treat any discussion of them as “making excuses,” but there isn’t a team in any sport out there that wouldn’t feel a significant kick in the gut from losing three of its best players. Alabama may still considered the favorite, but the room for error has been reduced to the size of a modest coat closet.
Tennessee has its own issues, some related to injury but most not. The Volunteers are barely functional on offense this year given trouble at the quarterback position; were it not for the highly talented DeSean Bishop at running back, we’re not sure the Volunteers would even have a winning record right now. Tennessee is also a little banged up, too, although probably not to the extent that Alabama is.
It’s a rivalry game, on the road in front of a crowd that absolutely seethes at the thought of losing again to the Crimson Tide. Alabama also has to prove that its loss of composure against Georgia was an isolated incident.
OFFENSE
Josh Heupel directs an offense very similar to what Alabama saw two weeks ago against Mississippi State – or at least, he wants to. When it has the right personnel at his disposal – meaning mostly the right quarterback – Tennessee runs a spread attack that relies on RPO action and a lot of speed. But the passing attack ranks just 111th nationally in 2026, although Tennessee ranks 15th in rushing offense for a total offense ranking of 54th. Besides quarterback, the offensive line has been surprisingly erratic. Alabama’s Air Raid-derived attack has shown competent balance this year, 30th in passing and 46th in rushing for a total offense ranking of 32nd.
QUARTERBACKS
As a comparison, it’s barely worth addressing, but in the spirit of knowing what Alabama will be up against, it’s going to be one of two freshmen, George MacIntyre or Faizon Brandon. Brandon is listed as questionable and frankly, Alabama doesn’t expect to see him. If for some reason Brandon could play, he’ll do so with a bum shoulder. Brandon is a dual-threat quarterback but his rushing stats are fairly pedestrian (53 carries for 130 yards, 2.5 avg., and 3 touchdowns, which includes yardage lost to sacks), and his completion percentage is hovering around 60 percent. He will likely develop into a dangerous quarterback soon, but right now it seems he has a lot to learn. MacIntyre is a statue by comparison; he has 4 total rushing attempts on the season with a long gain of 1 yard. He is slightly more accurate (65.3%) than Brandon has been but has thrown 2 interceptions to Brandon’s 1 despite far fewer attempts and he struggled in the preseason. To say Alabama’s Keelon Russell has the edge here is like saying a Corvette makes a better race car than does a Jeep Wrangler. Even with Russell’s struggles for about half the Georgia game, there’s no question who has the better starter. And as for backups, put Alabama’s QB Austin Mack on Tennessee’s roster and he starts this game for the Volunteers. Advantage: Alabama
RUNNING BACKS
Alabama has improved to the point that no one considers this group a liability anymore. Three backs – Trae’shawn Brown, Daniel Hill and Ezavier Crowell – have separated themselves from the pack and have become an effective three-headed monster of sorts. There’s Hill, who can drive for yardage inside but also offers versatility in the passing game; Crowell, who has homerun ability on every snap; and Brown, who despite his lack of size has shown himself to be a tough inside runner, pass blocker and an effective receiver as well. But Tennessee has DeSean Bishop, and that means a lot. Bishop has carried 107 times for 678 yards (6.3 avg.) and 8 touchdowns, which is only about 100 yards less than all three of Alabama’s top backs combined. Bishop has a good mix of size and speed but his best attribute is his ability to shed tackles at the line of scrimmage. He’s well on his way to eclipsing his rushing totals of a year ago. Backup Daune Morris is also averaging above 6 yards per carry, and there’s good depth behind him in Justin Baker, Hunter Barnes and Javin Gordon, although Gordon is well shy of 100-percent healthy at the moment. Alabama also has A.K. Dear and Kevin Riley, although Dear is still recovering from an injury and Riley’s playing time has been erratic. While Alabama has improved drastically from a year ago, the Crimson Tide still trails Tennessee, perhaps significantly. Advantage: Tennessee
WIDE RECEIVERS
Both teams will have missing personnel here but Alabama by far has the bigger loss – bellcow WR Ryan Coleman-Williams, who suffered both a leg injury and a possible concussion against Georgia. Without Coleman-Williams in the game, Alabama must hope that Noah Rogers is fully healed and ready for a full-game workload. Lotzeir Brooks and Rico Scott have developed into good complementary receivers, but neither is WR1 material at this point in their careers. Rogers, a North Carolina State transfer, could be, but he is recovering from a leg injury of his own. Alabama will probably give more snaps to Derek Meadows and Cederian Morgan in this game, and both of them have elite size. Tyler Henderson and M.J. Chirgwin provide further depth. At tight end, Josh Ford isn’t really fully healed, but he’s as close as he’s going to get for a few weeks. Danny Lewis Jr., Kaleb Edwards, Marshall Pritchett and Jay Lindsey will also see time. For Tennessee, the Volunteers will be without TE Ethan Davis and WR Joakim Dodson, but both have been out the majority of the season already up to this point. DaSaahn Brame has developed into a solid receiver at tight end, and Trent Thomas and Luka Wolf make for quality backups. At receiver, the name to watch is Mike Matthews, who is reminiscent of former Alabama star Germie Bernard. Braylon Staley is a quality slot receiver but whether it’s a slow start overall, or the fault of Tennessee’s quarterback problems, Staley is averaging just 8.0 yards per catch had hasn’t been a threat downfield. The bigger issue is that Tennessee needs Radarious Jackson to catch fire a bit. He’s the other starting outside receiver opposite Matthews, but has caught just 9 passes total on the year. There is virtually no effective depth behind the starters; Travis Smith Jr., Nathan Roberts, T.K. Keys and Tyreek King have a combined 10 catches for 89 yards and 1 touchdown. If Coleman-Williams were available, we’d be taking Alabama here on the strength of a better tight end group and Coleman-Williams’ playmaking ability. But until we know what Rogers can really do, this category flips. Advantage: Tennessee
OFFENSIVE LINE
Again, put Racin Delgatty at center for Alabama and we’re not really having much of a discussion. But without him, this gets to be a much tougher pick. Alabama ranks 113th in sacks allowed and 88th in tackles for loss allowed. Those numbers didn’t improve after facing a solid defensive front last week, and Tennessee has a defensive line that is functionally equal to Georgia’s. The problem for Tennessee is that the Volunteers rank 123rd in sacks allowed and 102nd in tackles for loss allowed, and will again be without its best lineman, LG Wendell Moe Jr. With Moe out, redshirt freshman Nic Moore gets the start at left guard, with Donovan Haslam at right guard. Sam Pendleton starts at center, and the tackles will be David Sanders Jr. and Jesse Perry. We expect Tennessee to continue to run the ball effectively, but pass protection will suffer for Moe’s absence. Alabama will likely start Mal Waldrep at center in place of Delgatty. Waldrep was the backup center for part of 2025 before moving to guard in 2026. Will Sanders and Michael Carroll will start at the guards and Jackson Lloyd and Jayvin James will start at the tackles. If Waldrep struggles at center, Casey Poe is an option, and Delgatty may be able to play limited snaps. With Waldrep at center, Sanders will need to go the whole way at left guard rather than rotate. This one is close with Delgatty out but we’re going to fall back on the metrics. Advantage: Alabama
DEFENSE
Both teams base from a 4-2-5, although Tennessee uses bigger players at its Leo position, which correlates to Alabama’s Wolf linebacker. New Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, a veteran and one of the best in the business, has made the Volunteers immediately better compared to a year ago, at least up front. The Vols rank 25th in total defense, 53rd in rushing defense, 16th in raw pass defense, 12th in pass efficiency defense and 19th in scoring defense. Alabama, a bit smaller across the board, ranks 54th in total defense, 24th in rushing defense, 103rd in raw pass defense, 86th in pass efficiency defense and 45th in scoring defense.
DEFENSIVE LINE
This was already probably going to be an edge to the Volunteers but it got massive when DT Terrance Green was ruled out for the Tide. Green’s absence does two things; in addition to taking Green himself out of the lineup, the whole operation loses a substantial amount of bulk. Kedrick Bingley-Jones will see his snap count jump, and his effectiveness seems to go down with a heavier workload. London Simmons will start at tackle next to him. Edric Hill becomes a primary backup along with Isaia Faga; both are small for SEC tackles, not the best news when going against a rushing attack like Tennessee’s. Steve Mboumoua and true freshman Mhari Johnson may get some work but neither has any experience in big games. Devan Thompkins may also be asked to work more inside than at Bandit, which would make Fatutoa Henry all that more important coming off the bench. Jah-Marien Latham is also a possibility there. For Tennessee, the Vols have an interesting mix of smaller, quicker tackles (Daevin Hobbs, Xavier Gilliam) a smaller pure end (Tyree Weathersby) but larger edge players. Gilliam has been a monster already – 10 tackles for loss and 5 sacks, to go with 6 QB hurries, 2 forced fumbles and 1 fumble recovery. The Volunteers lead the nation with 25 sacks and rank 9th in tackles for loss, even though the raw rush defense numbers are mediocre. Weathersby has chipped in 5.5 TFLs and 4.5 sacks. Hobbs has been quieter (2.5 TFL, 0 sacks). If there’s an edge for Alabama, it’s in the fact that Tennessee’s three backups across the front – tackles Ethan Utley and Nathan Robinson and end Carson Gentle – have made no plays behind the line of scrimmage at all. Tennessee takes a lot of chances up front, which might give Alabama some unexpected creases in the running game. Alabama ranks 19th in sacks and 49th in tackles for loss, good numbers to be sure. But overall, with Green out for Alabama, this one isn’t all that close on paper. Advantage: Tennessee
LINEBACKERS
We’re going to throw Tennessee’s Leo position in here just to keep things even, as both teams’ 4-2-5 fronts often flex to an odd alignment. Jordan Norman will start at the Leo spot with Mariyon Dye as his backup. Arion Carter and Amare Campbell start in the middle. This is an active group of linebackers, all of which are capable of making plays behind the line of scrimmage. If anything, Dye has been more productive coming off the edge than Norman in fewer snaps. Carter and Campbell are the team’s leading tacklers. Backups Edwin Spillman and Jeremiah Telander aren’t much of a dropoff from Carter and Campbell. For Alabama, Luke Metz and Caleb Woodson will start inside with Yhonzae Pierre at the Wolf spot outside. The big news of the week is that Justin Hill is returning to the Alabama lineup, and he offers the kind of positional flexibility that this defense has been lacking since he went out. With Hill back, Jah-Marien Latham returns to being a situational player when he’s at Wolf. Xavier Griffin probably will still have a role both inside and outside, while Q.B. Reese, Duke Johnson and Abduall Sanders provide depth inside. This is probably the closest category on the board; Pierre is the superior edge player here but Tennessee is probably stronger inside, particularly as one moves through the depth chart. Tennessee gets a slim edge here based mostly on experience. Advantage: Tennessee
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Again, a lot to unpack here, because Tennessee has far superior numbers on paper, while Alabama has more of the players you’d pick if you were drafting a team from scratch. The big issue for Alabama has been the play of CB Dijon Lee Jr., who may be on the verge of losing his job or at the very least, seeing his snap count decrease. Lee has yielded completions on about three-quarters of the passes thrown his way this year, a stupefying stat for a player expected to be one of the top corners in the country. As such, Carmelo O’Neal, who played quite a bit against Georgia with the game on the line, may be moving up. The other corner, Zabien Brown, has locked down receivers as expected. The safety trio of Keon Sabb, Bray Hubbard and nickel safety Red Morgan have been solid, while backups Ivan Taylor, Jireh Edwards, Chuck McDonald and Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. have performed well. McDonald is another possibility at cornerback. For Tennessee, Ty Redmond and Auburn transfer Kayin Lee will start at the corners, with Dejuan Lane, T.J. Metcalf and Qua Moss at the safeties. Alabama has a definite edge in key negative plays in the secondary – Alabama ranks 3rd in the nation in interceptions – but Tennessee has had very few coverage busts. This one is actually a lot closer than the numbers on paper would indicate, and we almost take Alabama here, but until we see how Bama will manage the Dijon Lee problem going forward, we’re picking the Vols. Advantage: Tennessee
SPECIAL TEAMS
Tennessee has struggled with these units, especially on coverage. Punt return defense is a gory 128th and kickoff return defense is mediocre at 65th. Alabama ranks 25th and 26th, respectively, in those categories. The one thing Dijon Lee can definitely do is return kickoffs, so that matchup will be one to watch provided Josh Turbyville doesn’t do what he usually does and kick the ball out of the end zone. We’re not sure what Alabama will do at punt returner, as Ryan Coleman-Williams is out. Dijon Lee and Rico Scott have both fielded punts this year, but Lee fumbled one at Mississippi State. Tennessee ranks 89th in net punting, 47th in punt returns and 76th in kickoff returns. Jackson Ross is an accomplished punter, but Tennessee is still wondering what it can trust in regard to Louisville transfer Cooper Ranvier, who handles placement kicks. Ranvier missed his only long attempt of the year, but has been perfect on short and midrange kicks. Alabama’s Alex Asparuhov is having a solid first season as punter, and placekicker Conor Talty continues to be solid. Lorcan Quinn has been an ideal kickoff specialist. Not having Coleman-Williams is a big deal, but Alabama is stronger in most other areas and takes the category. Advantage: Alabama
OVERALL
For the first time this year, Alabama comes out on the losing end of the on-paper comparisons, with Tennessee taking five categories and Alabama three. We will say up front that if Ryan Coleman-Williams wasn’t hurt, this would be a 4-4 split, but that isn’t happening. As for the OL-DL cross-matchups, both teams’ defensive lines hold the edge over the opposing offensive lines.
We also have a situation where there are a few categories that weren’t really all that close. Alabama strongly leads at quarterback and on special teams. Tennessee holds a clear edge at defensive line and, at least on paper, in the secondary.
What this typically leads to is one of two types of games: either a low-scoring, rather balanced affair, or a game that gets ugly for one of the two teams pretty quickly after kickoff. We’re betting on the former. Put simply, Keelon Russell is going to have to carry the day, because it’s shaky otherwise due to the injuries.
A lot of attention is being paid to how Tennessee has struggled the last two weeks without Wendell Moe on its offensive line, or Faizon Brandon at quarterback. The Volunteers let Auburn stay in the game two weeks ago, then nearly let Arkansas get its first SEC win for Ryan Silverfield last week. But Tennessee will almost certainly be more focused for a game against Alabama. Meanwhile, how will Alabama rebound from its frustrating loss to Georgia?
With the game in Knoxville, Alabama will likely need all the key plays in critical situations in can get. We’re technically taking the upset here, based on what the on-paper analysis says.
Alabama 24
Tennessee 21
Follow Jess Nicholas on X at @TideFansJessN