At 4-3 overall, the Tennessee Volunteers have a lot to be proud of as they continue to improve on a weekly basis under first-year head coach Butch Jones. Jones - who joined the Volunteers program this season after spending the previous three seasons with the University of Cincinnati - has instilled a fresh level of confidence in his players and after nearly taking down No. 6 Georgia two weeks ago, the Volunteers pulled off an impressive upset of No. 11 South Carolina last weekend, a clear indication that Tennessee football is headed in the right direction after years of unacceptable failure.
Slated to take on No. 1 Alabama in their next contest, the Vols will play their third straight game against a Top 15 team and with contests against No. 5 Missouri and No. 11 Auburn to follow, Butch Jones knows his team will need to be prepared on all fronts but the head man also notes that the Volunteers will need to take down the defending National Champions this week in order for the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry to have true meaning once again, especially since the Crimson Tide have won the last six meetings with the pride of Knoxville.
"Going back to making these rivalries relevant," Jones said recently regarding the importance of playing well against one of your biggest rivals on a consistent basis. "We need to start winning these games. But our players understand the challenge ahead and we have a tremendous amount of respect for what they've done, but it is a rivalry game and we're looking forward to Saturday."
While Jones and company have their sights set on pulling another upset, the Alabama Crimson Tide hope to continue their recent stretch of solid football as they'll enter the game fresh off a 52-0 thumping of Arkansas. Averaging over 270 rushing yards per game the last month of the season, head coach Nick Saban hopes the combination of T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake can continue the ground success against their SEC rivals.
"I think those two guys have played well," Saban said of his running back duo. "Both tailbacks complement each other in terms of their style. One guy's a little bit faster. The other guy's more of an inside, make you miss, hard to tackle. I think the change of pace that the two guys complement each other with is really something that's good for our team. I think it's good for both of them as well."
Alabama vs. Tennessee: DATE, TIME & TV INFO
DATE: Saturday, October 26
TIME: 3:30pm, ET
TV COVERAGE: CBS
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
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