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Going Up In Smoke: Alabama lights up after Third Saturday in October

Terrin Waack

October 16, 2016

During the 2016 Alabama football season, The Crimson White’s Terrin Waack will provide select stellar stats, obscure facts and notable quotes from the most recent game to take readers Behind the Process.

No. 1 Alabama defeated No. 9 Tennessee, 49-10, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Saturday.

Stellar stats

Alabama defensive back Eddie Jackson scored his third touchdown of the season, this time off a 79-yard punt return to open up the fourth quarter. He is tied with running back Josh Jacobs for fifth in scoring.
The Crimson Tide now has 10 non-offensive touchdowns. Along with Jackson’s punt-return-touchdown, defensive back Ronnie Harrison snagged an interception that he returned 58 yards to the end zone. Alabama’s defense leads the nation with eight scores of its own.
Although he didn’t throw a single touchdown pass, Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts scored three times with his own two feet. He was single-handedly responsible for 18 of Alabama’s 49 points. He was also Alabama’s leading rusher, carrying the ball 12 times for 132 yards. Remember, Hurts is a true freshman.
The Crimson Tide’s 594 offensive yards is the most the team has every accumulated against the Volunteers. It was also the 16th-most yards in program history overall.
Alabama held Tennessee to just 32 rushing yards on 32 attempts, all the while wracking up 438 yards of its own on the ground. The Crimson Tide hasn’t rushed that much since 1986 when it produced 451 yards, also against the Volunteers.

Obscure facts

There have now been 99 Third Saturday in October meetings. It has officially been a decade since Tennessee last beat Alabama, as Saturday marked Alabama’s 10th straight victory. Each member of the Crimson Tide received a cigar after the game to keep the winning tradition alive. Smoke was pouring out of the visiting locker room.
Tennessee has been considered a very strong, second-half team so far this season, but on Saturday, the Volunteers were only able to squeak out a 37-yard field goal during the third quarter. Alabama was the team that went off during the second half, scoring four touchdowns.
Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough is a big guy. He’s super fast, too. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound beast outran the entire Tennessee secondary to break out a long 85-yard touchdown run during the fourth quarter. At the end of it, Scarbough went up to a Tennessee fan for a high-five, but it was left unanswered. “I wish I would have just high fived him back to see his reaction,” the fan told AL.com after the game.
Former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning was honored prior to kickoff as the VFL Legend of the Game. He played for the Volunteers from 1994-97. During his first season at Tennessee, Manning’s team lost to Alabama, 17-13, at home. The next three seasons, though, Manning and the Volunteers defeated Alabama. They won in 1995 (41-14), in 1996 (20-13) and in 1997 (38-21).
Tennessee’s first and only touchdown of Saturday’s game came from running back Alvin Kamara. He scored off a 7-yard run. Ironically enough, Kamara used to play at Alabama in 2013. He redshirted his first season at the Capstone before transferring to Hutchinson Community College in 2014 and eventually Tennessee in 2015.

Best Nick Saban quote

On Hurts’ performance and the times he confronted the quarterback…

“I got on Jalen a couple times [Saturday]. The good thing about Jalen is he always takes it right. I always ask him in the locker room, ‘Should I have got on you?’ He says yeah.”

On the team’s overall performance…

“I just think our guys did a really, really good job. This is as proud of our team that I’ve been all year long in terms of playing a complete game against a very good team, especially in a tough environment.”

On the beloved process…

“If we had a better way to do, we’d already be doing it. So, we do what we do. Players believe in it; they trust in it. We believe in it; we trust in it.”

Best player quote

Offensive lineman Ross Pierschbacher

On Hurts’ performances as a true freshman…

“I just don’t notice it, which is even more impressive. I don’t notice that he’s a freshman, that he’s making those freshman mistakes. It’s just credit to him. He’s a great player.”

On Hurts’ mentality in the huddle…

“He just says, ‘Don’t smile. No matter what the score, it’s 0-0.’”

Defensive lineman Jonathan Allen

Also on Hurts’ performances as a true freshman…

“He’s a freshman, but he players like an upperclassman.”

Game leaders

Top 3 rushers