Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee were completely outmatched in just the fourth quarter of the Third Saturday in October rivalry meeting with Alabama football.
There was not much that head coach Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee football could do on its way to making it a close game against the top team in the nation by far in the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide. Pruitt was the former Alabama defensive coordinator under head coach Nick Saban before taking over for the Volunteers this year. Some intrigue surrounded the ability of Tennessee football to follow up a big road win over the Auburn Tiger last week against Alabama this week.
Tennessee snapped a losing streak in SEC play that extended back to the 2016 campaign under former head coach Butch Jones of 11 straight games. That last win for Tennessee in conference play came over the Mizzou Tigers two years ago. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide came into this matchup with little to no competition offered by any opponent yet this fall.
A tough true sophomore quarterback for Tennessee football in Jarrett Guarantano took a lot of hits in last week’s win over Auburn. He was likely facing more of the same if he hoped to give any sort of a scare to Alabama in the 2018 edition of the Third Saturday in October.
This outing would be quite the intimidating matchup for Guarantano against the quarterback on the opposite sideline in Alabama sophomore superstar Tua Tagovailoa. Winning the quarterback matchup would not be the only thing that the Vols would need to do to make this thing close.
Here’s a look at the three takeaways from the dominant outing for the Alabama Crimson Tide over the Tennessee Volunteers on Oct. 20.