Tennessee Found Its Identity Saturday as it ‘Smoked’ Bama.

Vols picks vs. the spread: 3-1 (last week: Tennessee +7.5, won 26-10)

College picks last week: 5-2

Everybody’s talking about the defense and DeSean Bishop. They should be. Those two things just told you what this team is.

Tennessee is going to play hard-nosed defense. It’s going to run the ball. And in the fourth quarter? Good luck finishing them off.

THE IDENTITY

The 26-10 score makes it look closer than it was. Tennessee kicked their asses. Alabama got 10 points, got sacked five times and got a long bus ride. Xavier Gilliam is the guy every offense game-plans for. Tyree Weathersby is the one making them pay for it. Pick your poison. Both taste bad.

Cooper Ranvier went 4-for-4 in a 10-mile-an-hour wind. Jackson Ross keeps flipping the field.

Up nine in the fourth, Tennessee kept the ball for nine and a half minutes. Bishop, Bishop, Bishop, touchdown. Alabama knew what was coming and still couldn’t stop it.

That’s the longest drive of the Heupel era. Grown-man football. Bishop had 64 at the half and 95 after it. This run game gets meaner as the game goes on.

Some of the toughness is Jim Knowles. Some of it is the strength coach Heupel stole from Indiana’s national title team. Heupel gets the credit either way. He hired those guys.

THE QUARTERBACK

Heupel said George MacIntyre “played winning football.” He’s right. The Brentwood Academy kid was decisive and composed, career highs in completions and attempts against Alabama.

Here’s how I see him: he’s not throwing it 40 times and trying to beat you by himself. He takes care of the ball. He tries not to lose the game so the rest of the team can win it. Alabama won two national titles with AJ McCarron. Nobody confused him with a running back.

Faizon Brandon is getting healthy too. Two weeks ago Tennessee had a quarterback problem. Now it has a quarterback who fits and a good one behind him.

THE FULL HOUSE

Saturday was the biggest recruiting day of the year. Every kid there watched 101,000 people lose their minds and pour onto the field. Storming it will cost Tennessee a $500,000 SEC fine, payable to Alabama. So we beat their asses for three hours and then paid them for the privilege. Worth every penny.

Battle Ground Academy’s Maddox Porter thanked the Vols on X the next day. Springfield’s Jermaine Cobbins, the top junior in the state, told Rivals it was the loudest stadium he’s ever been in. One wrinkle: Cobbins has a Nike deal, Tennessee is now Adidas, and Ohio State (the longtime favorite) is Nike. He still says Tennessee is on his list. Two years ago, the last time Bama lost in Neyland, two high school seniors climbed out of the visitors’ box to join the party. Their names were George MacIntyre and David Sanders Jr.

THE GAMECOCKS

Yes, I remember 63-38 in 2022. So does Heupel. On Monday the staff showed the team a picture of South Carolina fans on the field celebrating that one. But this isn’t that South Carolina team. They went up 17-0 on Kentucky at home and still lost in overtime. They lost at home to a Mississippi State team that’s now falling apart. They’re 1-3 in the SEC.

One team can’t hold a lead in the fourth quarter. The other one finishes you off. I know which one I want.

Williams-Brice at night is tough. But this one kicks off at 3:30 Eastern. South Carolina has already played two SEC home games in the afternoon this year and lost both. LaNorris Sellers can hurt you. But defense travels. A running game travels. A kicking game travels.

THE PICK

Last week Vegas wanted Bama by 7.5. I said take the points. Tennessee won by 16. Feel free to send flowers. Or a cut of your winnings.

This week the line flipped five points, from Tennessee -2.5 to Tennessee +2.5. The sharps figure Tennessee is beat up after Alabama and South Carolina is coming off a bye. Georgia and Alabama beat each other up two Saturdays ago and both lost as big favorites the next week. In the NIL era, the talent gap between rosters isn’t what it used to be. There’s more parity, so that stuff matters more. Five of the top eight teams lost on the same day last Saturday. The sharps think we’re tired. The sharps also had Georgia covering 18.5 against Auburn and Bama covering 7.5 against Tennessee.

But I don’t buy it with this team. Alabama came out of the Georgia game missing three starters. Tennessee? David Sanders Jr. got banged up and was back for the second half. And Tennessee wasn’t the one hanging on in the fourth quarter Saturday. It was the one finishing the job.

Tennessee found its identity Saturday. I’ll take the points. I think they win it outright too.

The picks: Tennessee +2.5 (-110) and Tennessee moneyline (+112).

BONUS THOUGHTS: 

Links:
Maddox Porter on X: https://x.com/Maddox_Porter3/status/2111936439264948315
Rivals (Cobbins): https://www.on3.com/rivals/news/tennessee-makes-major-move-with-no-1-in-state-prospect-jermaine-cobbins-after-alabama-win

Jeremy Durham is Sports Columnist for TriStar Daily.