Tennessee-Alabama: 4 things to watch for

Welcome to the Third Saturday in October.

The annual meeting between Tennessee and Alabama is here — it’s time for the Third Saturday in October. The No. 7 Crimson Tide will roll into Knoxville on Saturday to face the No. 11 Volunteers in what will be a pivotal game in the College Football Playoff picture.

While it’s not exactly a true elimination game, the loser here will have zero room for error. So on top of all the weight of this rivalry, your postseason hopes hang in the balance.

There’s a new face on the Alabama sideline, both sides have been struggling in recent weeks — what else should you be watching for? Let’s dive in.

Welcome to the rivalry, Kalen DeBoer

A new chapter of the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry begins on Saturday afternoon. A couple of South Dakota natives will lead their teams onto the field this weekend, set to take part in one of the south’s greatest series.

“Kalen, not a lot of us from us from South Dakota,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said this week. “But anyways, knew of him when I was younger. And through his coaching career, he was just somebody that I stayed in contact with at times. Got great respect for him and what he’s done throughout his career and how he handles himself.”

DeBoer, fresh off of a national title appearance with Washington, got off to a fast start with Alabama. The Crimson Tide held on to knock off Georgia, ascending to the No. 1 spot in the AP poll. That win was quickly met with a loss to Vanderbilt, however. Welcome to life in the SEC.

Alabama didn’t exactly restore confidence last week against South Carolina either. The Gamecocks had a chance to win it late after leading for much of the fourth quarter.

Tennessee has plenty of issues of their own, losing to Arkansas on the road and then escaping an upset bid against a mediocre Florida squad last week.

Regardless, this is still the Third Saturday in October. DeBoer will get his first taste of the rivalry this weekend.

“I’ve been told it’s a big deal, and I know it’s a big deal,” DeBoer said. “You see it from afar. These are the games, much like, we’ve (already had a couple here). They’re the big ones that are on the schedule. As a coach, they’re all big in different ways and you take one at a time, but certainly understand the significance of the rivalry. Guys are going to be very motivated to go out and do their best and prepare well and be great on Saturday.”

Tennessee front vs. Jalen Milroe

Jalen Milroe is a bit of a rollercoaster ride, but make no mistake — he’s the focal point of this Alabama offense. A legitimately elite athlete, DeBoer utilizes that running ability in Alabama’s rushing attack. He’s going to come at Tennessee with plenty of quarterback power looks, both left and right.

Even more than that, Tennessee will have to contain Milroe as a scrambler. It’s going to be a bit of a different look than this front has seen, maybe outside of the second half against Oklahoma when Michael Hawkins entered the game.

“What we got to do defensively, is not let him get all over the football field as a runner, and that’s quarterback designed run, it’s read game, and when the pocket breaks down, but you got to do a great job on their skill players,” Josh Heupel said. “Extremely talented, playing at a high level. We got to do a great job of winning some of those one-on-ones.”

One big note here — senior linebacker Keenan Pili won’t be available for this one after tearing his ACL last week. That’s going to put the pressure on sophomores Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander, who both will handle responsibilities with the communications helmet.

Tennessee has been able to really affect the game with pressure so far this season, but how will that change with an escape artist like Milroe? This is my biggest key to the game.

Ryan Williams vs. Jermod McCoy

Most of the country knows about Ryan Williams by now. The five-star prospect exploded onto the scene early in the year, and then really put his stamp on the college football season as he delivered a ridiculous catch and run down the sideline to beat Georgia.

The true freshman receiver leads Alabama in receiving by a large margin, averaging an unheard of 25 yards per catch. There’s no doubt that DeBoer and Milroe will want to take several shots to Williams, and the Tennessee staff knows it. Going into the season it was the Tennessee secondary remaining as the team’s largest unknown. Now at least some of those questions have been answered, mainly by standout cornerback Jermod McCoy.

McCoy is likely to see plenty of work against Williams, which will be by far his toughest test of the season. He’s proven himself at every opportunity so far, including a handful of big plays last week against the Gators.

No. 3 in orange vs. No. 2 in crimson will be a matchup to keep an eye on.

Tennessee’s vertical passing game

The Volunteers have been able to smoke-and-mirror their way to staying competitive in the last three games, doing it mainly with defense and opportunistic turnovers. They have scored exactly zero points in the last two first halves that they’ve played. That can’t happen on Saturday.

Alabama is going to put up some points. This will easily be the best offense that Tennessee has faced to this point. How will Tennessee counter? Recently it’s been a heavy lean on Dylan Sampson, but there’s another dimension to this offense that hasn’t been unlocked yet.

Nico Iamaleava was oh-so-close to hitting a handful of deep throws last week against Florida. He’s going to need to hit a couple of those this week to keep pace. It just doesn’t feel like Tennessee is going to be able to win this game without Iamaleava and the passing game getting going a little bit.

“Certainly there’s big plays out there that we’re a little bit off on, but even just the run game, some of our pass game, that’s not vertically down the football field, we’re close on things,” Heupel said. “11 guys gotta fully operate as one. And the good thing is we have guys that can do it.”

Iamaleava has thrown for 194, 158 and 169 yards in his three SEC starts so far. Going a little deeper, Nico averaged just 5.8 and 6.5 yards per attempt in his last two starts. Can a leaky Alabama secondary provide a couple of big plays down the field? This Tennessee offense certainly needs it.

Kickoff on Saturday is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.