The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide eviscerated the No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers, 49-10, on Saturday. Here are the three biggest takeaways from this rivalry game.
It wasn’t even close. The Alabama Crimson Tide flexed their No. 1 ranking by absolutely humiliating their cross-divisional rival Tennessee Volunteers, 49-10. Tennessee was the No. 9 team in the country, but will drop considerably next week in the AP Top 25 Poll.
Alabama capitalized on a few Tennessee miscues, but did render the Volunteers offense useless with stellar defense at all three levels. This was the 10th straight meeting that the Crimson Tide have won the Third Saturday in October over rival Tennessee.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from this SEC blowout:
1. Jalen Hurts can quarterback Alabama to another National Championship.
He’s not perfect, but the Crimson Tide can win another National Championship with true freshman Jalen Hurts at quarterback. Hurts ran all over the Volunteers defense on Saturday, but showed that he can make the big time throws from the pocket against a solid SEC secondary.
Hurts does turn the football over and head coach Nick Saban probably hates that. However, he does play with great poise as a true freshman signal caller that cannot be denied. Hurts is able to get all of his Alabama teammates involved on offense in Lane Kiffin’s game plan.
Are there better quarterbacks in the Power 5 than Hurts? For sure, but he will be a huge reason if the Crimson Tide are able to win back-to-back National Championships and go to their third straight College Football Playoff. Hurts showed us some really good ball on Saturday against Tennessee.
2. Tennessee has lost all control of the SEC East…to Florida…
Not only did the loss hurt Tennessee’s national title hopes, it might have cost the Volunteers their shot at playing for the 2016 SEC Championship. Tennessee can now finish no better than 6-2 in the SEC. One team in the SEC East can finish 7-1 and that team would be the rival Florida Gators.
With the LSU game back on the slate, should Florida win out, the Gators will win their second straight SEC East title at 7-1. Tennessee should be favored in all of its remaining games this season. Unfortunately, the same thing can be said for the Gators with their SEC schedule.
Tennessee has to win out and hope that teams like Georgia or LSU can knock off Florida. Otherwise, the Volunteers will fail to get to Atlanta for the ninth straight season. Georgia lost to Vanderbilt and LSU fired its head coach. Those facts don’t bode well for the Volunteers’ SEC title chances.
3. The winner of Alabama/Texas A&M is going to the College Football Playoff.
It’s the middle of October, but we now know that the winner of next week’s CBS SEC Game of the Week between Alabama and Texas A&M will likely represent the SEC in the third annual College Football Playoff.
Alabama will be the favorite as the No. 1 team in the land. However, Texas A&M will be fresher coming off the Aggies’ Week 7 bye. Then again, Alabama cakewalked over Tennessee in Week 7. The Arkansas Razorbacks and Ole Miss Rebels gave the Crimson Tide a harder time than did the Volunteers.
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It’s weird to admit this, but next week will have the best game in the SEC this season. Huge games like Georgia/Florida, the Egg Bowl, and the Iron Bowl aren’t going to sniff at Alabama/Texas A&M this year. Texas A&M did beat Alabama in its first SEC season back in 2012. That game will be a delight for any college football fan.