Alabama Plays Best Half of Football to Reclaim Third Saturday in October

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It may not have been the 60-minute performance Nick Saban was hoping for, but Alabama put together its best 30 minutes of football in Saturday's comeback rivalry win against Tennessee.

The Volunteers were sitting pretty at halftime with a 13-point lead. It was Alabama's largest halftime deficit since trailing by 14 in an eventual loss at Texas A&M two years ago.

With the same resiliency its showed all year, Alabama scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to knock off any Tennessee hopes of starting a streak over the Crimson Tide on the way to a 34-20 victory inside a raucous Bryant-Denny Stadium.

"When I walked in at halftime after they scored right before the half, I said, ‘Everybody here’s got a choice to make,'" Saban said. "What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to do? Everybody’s got to choose what you want. And we went out in the second half in the first drive on offense and changed the momentum of the game and played really well from that time on. Tennessee’s got a really good team. I really proud of our players for the way they competed in the game and came back, and the way they took care of business in the second half.”

The first play out of the break was a 29-yard rush from Jase McClellan, who finished with a season-high 115 yards, which set the tone for the way Alabama was going to play in the second half.

"That's what it was, setting the tone," McClellan said after the game. "That's how we were going to be in the second half– big plays and attacking it."

That play was followed by a 46-yard bomb from Jalen Milroe to Isaiah Bond to pull the Tide back within one score.

007. @JalenMilroe ➡️ @isaiahbond_

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— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) October 21, 2023

Saban said the downfield shot was a planned play for Alabama, and it resulted in the touchdown. Saban and McClellan said the playcalling wasn't very different in the second half, but it was better execution for the offense.

"It was our point of attack," Milroe said. "Acknowledging the assignment that took place and executing to the best of our ability."

Bond's touchdown injected life back into a deflated Bryant-Denny crowd and that momentum carried through the rest of the game.

If the first drive on offense set the tone, the play that completely shifted the momentum and put the game away for good was Jihaad Campbell's 24-yard scoop-and-score that put Alabama up 34-20 with just over seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Big Time Players make BIG Time Plays😤

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— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) October 21, 2023

Senior defensive back Malachi Moore said the defense had been talking on the sidelines about just getting a stop, but the strip sack by Chris Braswell and finish from Campbell provided something even better.

"We always talk about, 'Let's get the ball. Let's go score,'" Moore said. "So when it happened, it was just what we talk about. We just went out there and executed. Somebody made the big play."

The Crimson Tide (7-1, 5-0 SEC) defense looked gassed at the end of the first half after Tennessee (5-2, 2-2 SEC) possessed the ball for over 16 minutes. Here's how the Alabama defense responded in the second half: three-and-out, turnover on downs, three-and-out, fumble return for touchdown, three-and-out and another turnover on downs.

Time and time again when the defense needed a big play in the second half, it got one. Tennessee came into the game as the best rushing attack in the SEC and one of the best in the country at 231.3 rushing yards per game. The Volunteers finished with 133 rushing yards Saturday.

The second-half performance proved why the Alabama defense can be one of the most elite in college football.

It was once again another slow start for the Alabama offense with a three-and-out to open the game, and zero points in the first quarter. Milroe threw an interception in the end zone with just over three minutes to go. Tennessee promptly marched down the field 80 yards in 10 plays in 2:58 to score a touchdown to go up 20-7.

Before that drive, the Alabama defense had allowed just eight total yards in the second quarter, so it was a sour ending to the half for both sides of the ball.

"It takes a lot of resiliency, a lot of perseverance from those players to bounce back from that because it was a horrible way to end the first half," Saban said. "And they did a fantastic job of it, and I can't say enough about the competitive spirit that they have.”

Milroe, McClellan and the offensive line started to find a rhythm in the second half on the way to putting up 20 offensive points and 225 yards.

Saban will still be looking for that elusive complete performance as Alabama heads into a much-needed bye week. But Saturday's second half showed that when the Crimson Tide gets things clicking at the right time on both sides of the ball, it can be one of the best teams in the country.