No. 1 Alabama seeks to beat Tennessee for 12th straight time

Posted October 18, 2018 7:00 am

By The Associated Press

No. 1 Alabama (7-0, 4-0 SEC) at Tennessee (3-3, 1-2), 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS)

Line: Alabama by 28ˆ½.

Series record: Alabama leads 55-38-7

WHAT'S AT STAKE

Alabama seeks to maintain its No. 1 ranking as it attempts to beat Tennessee for the 12th consecutive year. Tennessee tries to get over .500 and earn its second straight victory. The Volunteers snapped an 11-game SEC losing streak last week by producing a 30-24 upset at Auburn.

KEY MATCHUP

Tennessee passing game vs. Alabama pass defense. Tennessee's Jarrett Guarantano threw for a career-high 328 yards last week while spreading the ball around to a talented receiving corps that features Marquez Callaway, Jauan Jennings and Josh Palmer. Guarantano will need to play well again for Tennessee to have any shot Saturday, but he's facing an Alabama defense that has picked off 12 passes, second-most on the country.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Alabama: QB Tua Tagovailoa's health has been a topic of interest this week after the Heisman Trophy front-runner aggravated a sprained right knee in a 39-10 victory over Missouri. Alabama coach Nick Saban downplayed the situation Monday by saying that Tagovailoa actually is feeling "probably better this week than he was last week."

Tennessee: Guarantano is coming off the best game of his career and gets a chance this week to show how far he's come in the last year. Guarantano was 9 of 16 for just 44 yards in a 45-7 loss to Alabama last season, with Tennessee's only touchdown coming on an interception return.

FACTS & FIGURES

Only two of Alabama's 11 straight victories against Tennessee were decided by fewer than 14 points. ... Saban owns a 14-0 record against teams coached by his former assistants. Tennessee's coach is former Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. Saban has already beaten Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher and Louisiana-Lafayette's Billy Napier this season. ... Butch Jones, who coached Tennessee to a 34-27 record from 2013-17 before getting fired last November, now works on Alabama's support staff as an analyst. ... Tennessee LB Daniel Bituli, who has a team-high 31 tackles, won't play the first half of Saturday's game. Bituli drew a targeting penalty in the second half of the Auburn game.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/tag/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Article Comments

Article Comments

Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.