The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Tennessee 52, Alabama 49

We've reached the crossroads part of the Alabama Crimson Tide football season, something that Nick Saban has become very familiar with over the years.

The scenario is as follows: The Crimson Tide is thought to be very, very good, but takes a narrow loss in the regular season.

It subsequently gets refocussed and rallies to make a title run, or it doesn't.

Actually, that latter has only happened twice over the last 10 years, the three-loss 2010 season, and 2019 when Alabama lost to LSU and Auburn. Consequently, there's that incredible stat of every regular-season game Alabama has played in since 2008 has had national title implications minus three (all in 2010).

Remember, Saban's only had two undefeated teams, the 2009 and 2020 national champions. He's had four others take their first loss after the regular season: 2008, 2016, 2018 and 2021.

You could almost include 2013 on there as well with the Kick Six game at Auburn, especially since the BCS championship game pairing back then only included two teams.

Nevertheless ...

2011: Alabama loses the Game of the Century to LSU 9-6 in overtime. It won the rematch in the BCS National Championship Game.

2012: Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M shocks Alabama, 29-24. The Tide rebounded and went on to crush Notre Dame for the title.

2014: Ole Miss pulls out a 23-17 win at home. Alabama subsequently won eight straight before getting upset by Ohio State in the inaugural College Football Playoff.

2015: Alabama lost again to the Rebels. It then ran the table and beat Clemson for the national championship.

2017: The Crimson Tide came up short on The Plains, 24-16. It missed out on the SEC Championship Game, but made the playoff, beat Clemson in New Orleans and then Second-and-26 happened against Georgia.

This isn't to say that Alabama should send Tennessee a thank-you note for the 52-49 loss on Saturday, which led to usual storming of the field by fans, and the not-so-typical grabbing and taking the goalpost for a night out on the town.

But let's face it, after the narrow wins against Texas and Texas A&M, this Crimson Tide team was underperforming to an extent. This removes any and all excuses because Alabama either runs the table or it's out of the College Football Playoff.

Player of the Game: Coming back from a shoulder injury sustained at Arkansas two weeks ago, Crimson Tide quarterback Bryce Young threw for a season-best 455 yards on 35 of 52 passing, including two touchdowns.

Play of the Game: We love defensive touchdowns, and Dallas Turner got a big one, but the play that signaled that Young's shoulder wasn't going to be an issue was his perfectly thrown 33-yard pass, ending with an over-the-shoulder catch by freshman wide receiver Isaiah Bond. It set up Alabama's first touchdown.

Statistic of the Game: Tennessee only punted once, for 31.0 yards, and the play resulted in a turnover that led to a touchdown.

The Good

• Running back Jahmyr Gibbs had another outstanding game, with 103 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns. After tallying 203 all-purpose yards, he's averaging 152.4 per game.

• Turner's 11-yard fumble return for a touchdown, giving Alabama a 49-42 lead with 7:49 remaining. On most nights that would have broken the other team.

• At one stretch Alabama scored on five straight possessions, which included two 12-play drives and one lasting 10 snaps. It also had 10- and 11-play drives on its last two possessions. Young distributed the ball to nine different receivers, although three of the top five were either running backs or a tight end.

The Bad

• The 52 points allowed were the most Alabama has yielded in any game since a 54-4 defeat to Sewanee in 1907. The most points Tennessee scored during its 15-year losing streak to the Crimson Tide was 24, last year (we've come a long way since 6-3 in 2005).

• Wide receiver Jalin Hyatt's five touchdowns came on just six receptions, and eight targets. The only one he didn't score on was a 9-yard catch on first-and-10. Two plays later he scored on the 78-yard touchdown.

• The officiating. Between the controversial pass interference call that nullified a turnover with the game on the line, and Young taking two nasty hits to the head without a single flag, Jason Autrey's crew had a rough night.

Ouch 😅 pic.twitter.com/ozQDITFw2X
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 15, 2022

But there were numerous other questionable calls or non-calls like this ...

This was not pass interference nor a facemask penalty pic.twitter.com/9dSR51xrbG
— Patrick Greenfield (@PCGreenfield) October 15, 2022

The Ugly

The school record 17 penalties for 130 yards.

That's beyond ugly.

5 Things That We Noticed

1] The Crimson Tide had not allowed 21 first-quarter points in a game since 2009.

2] Tennessee’s 52 points were its most against an AP Top 25 opponent in program history, breaking the school record of 51 set in a 51-33 victory over No. 10 Georgia on Oct. 7, 2006.

3] Hyatt's five-touchdown performance tied a Southeastern Conference single-game record, last done by DeVonta Smith against Ole Miss in 2019.

4] Even with Gibbs topping 100 rushing yards, Alabama had a season-low 114 yards on the ground, on 31 attempts (3.7 yards per carry).

5] You might have missed what the CBS broadcasters said during the postgame celebration after Tennessee fans stormed the field. When Brad Nessler mentioned that it was going to cost the athletic department a significant amount of money (in fines and damages), although it would be considered money well spent, Gary Danielson quipped: "Well, they have been saving for 15 years."