Alabama suffered its second loss of the season Saturday, falling 24-17 to Tennessee. The Crimson Tide is now 5-2 on the season, with one loss coming to Vanderbilt two weeks ago.
Among other issues, the past few weeks, and there have seemed to be few changes the past few weeks. However, most of the issues and contributions to the loss against Tennessee can be put on the offense.
Offensive execution
Alabama continued its struggles offensively against Tennessee, and this was its worst performance of the season.
Quarterback Jalen Milroe finished the game with 25 completions on 45 attempts, a 55% completion rate. Turnovers continued to be an issue, as he threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.
Neither Crimson Tide running back rushed for over 50 yards. Jam Miller, who saw the most action with 12 carries, finished with 42 yards and averaged 3.5 per rush.
Ryan Williams finished the game as the leading receiver with eight receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown after he was targeted 20 times, more than any other receiver.
The offensive line did not play well, as Milroe was pressured often and was sacked three times.
Alabama has also gone downhill on third-down execution, only converting three of 14 on Saturday.
“I think we just have to continue to build our togetherness,” wide receiver Germie Bernard said. “Just continue to trust and believe each and every play on this team.”
Milroe struggles
This was Milroe’s worst game of the season so far. As the Alabama offense struggled, many issues fell on him. He accounted for three total turnovers: two interceptions and a fumble. Fans have been able to see this issue over the past few weeks, and it hasn’t gotten better.
Milroe has struggled to read the field and follow his progressions, which often leads him to scramble or make a bad throw.
Against Tennessee, Milroe seemed to have a predetermined target in mind for most of the game. He targeted Williams 20 times, 12 more than the second-place Bernard, who had eight and finished with five catches.
In addition to his 55% completion rate, Milroe posted a quarterback rating of 65.3.
Many of Milroe’s throws were off target, with one of the interceptions coming in the end zone.
“[Accuracy] is something I can definitely improve on, just giving our guys a chance,” Milroe said. “Just putting it in range of them, and just trusting in them, because I know they’re gonna make big plays.”
Penalties
Penalties have been something of an issue over the past couple of weeks, but they were fatal for Alabama on Saturday. The team committed seven penalties for 67 yards against South Carolina. Against Tennessee, however, that number was doubled: Alabama committed 15 penalties for 115 yards.
Roughing the passer has been called on the Crimson Tide in three straight games, and Milroe has been called for intentional grounding in two consecutive weeks.
After a third-down incompletion with less than two minutes remaining, receiver Kendrick Law was called for a personal foul after he shoved Tennessee defensive back Boo Carter. The 15-yard penalty put Alabama in a fourth-and-22 situation that Alabama failed to convert, resulting in a turnover on downs.
This comes two weeks after defensive back Malachi Moore received a personal foul penalty for kicking the football after the refs set it ready for play at the end of the game against Vanderbilt.
“[Penalties are] a little bit of everything, right?” head Kalen DeBoer said. “It’s false starts, just getting off to a rough start there, then there’s a couple more intermixed in there … We got to do better, there’s no question, you can’t win a football game when you have the mistakes that we had out there and all of the penalties.”
