Four Downs: Alabama Game by the Numbers

Oct. 26, 2015

By Brian Rice
UTSports.com

Each week, UTSports.com takes a look at the numbers from the weekend past and the weekend ahead in Four Downs. This week: stopping opponents in the backfield, scoring touchdowns early and making history.

First Down: 10 – Tennessee Tackles For Loss

The Volunteers picked a good time to record a season high in tackles for loss. The 10 were the most by Tennessee this season, one better than the nine against Oklahoma.

It was the highest total in over a year, since UT had 10 at Ole Miss on Oct. 18, 2014, the third and final double-digit TFL effort of that season. Tennessee also had 10 at Georgia and 12 against Florida in 2014.

Tennessee had just one TFL, a Derek Barnett sack, in its last game against Georgia. In fact, in the Vols’ last three games against Georgia, Arkansas and Florida, they had just nine total TFLs and four sacks, totals exceeded with 8:00 to go in the fourth quarter against Alabama.

The 10.0 TFLs were the second-most given up by Alabama, behind the 15.0 by Texas A&M a week ago. But prior to that game, the Crimson Tide had not surrendered 10 or more TFLs since Virginia Tech had 12.0 in the 2013 season opener. An Alabama opponent had not had 10 or more TFLs in Bryant-Denny Stadium since LSU had 10.0 on Nov. 3, 2007.

Tennessee sacked Alabama QB Jake Coker five times, a season high for the Vols and the most sacks given up by Alabama since Oklahoma recorded seven in the 2014 Sugar Bowl. It was the highest sack total against Alabama by an SEC opponent since Auburn recorded five on Nov. 26, 2010. It was the highest sack total for Tennessee since getting five in back-to-back games against South Carolina and Kentucky last season.

The Volunteers held Alabama to a season-low 19 points, breaking the previous low of 27 against Arkansas. It was the fewest points scored by Alabama since scoring 14 against Arkansas a season ago and the lowest total by a Tide offense at home since a 9-6 loss to LSU in 2011. The 19 points were also the fewest against Tennessee since scoring 12 in 2009.

Second Down: 7 – Tennessee First Quarter Points

Tennessee scored a touchdown on its second possession of the afternoon to tie the game at 7-7. It was the first touchdown scored by Tennessee in the opening quarter against Alabama since a Tauren Poole TD Run in 2010. In the four games between that score and Saturday, UA had outscored UT 51-6 in opening quarters.

A single touchdown scored may not normally be a notable stat, even with the recent history between the two teams. But Josh Smith’s catch in the end zone was not only the first touchdown scored against Alabama in the first quarter in 2015, but with Aaron Medley’s PAT, it accounted for more points than the Tide had given up in the opening period in the entire year.

Alabama entered the game having outscored its opponents 41-6 in the first quarter this season. The Tennessee score was the first in an first quarter since Western Carolina scored on the opening possession last season.

Third Down: Quick Hits

92 – Jalen Hurd rushing yards. Hurd ran for the most yards by a Tennessee player against Alabama since Poole ran for 117 in 2010 and the most by a Vol in Tuscaloosa since Travis Stephens ran for 162 in 2001.

Hurd scored his eighth touchdown of the season to give Tennessee a 14-13 lead in the fourth quarter, extending the best season of his young career.

31 – Evan Berry kickoff return yards. Berry was held to a season-low 31 yards on his only return of the day, but he maintained his NCAA lead in both total kickoff return yardage (581) and average (38.7). For his career, Berry’s average stands at 34.3 yards per return, first all-time at Tennessee among players with 25 returns or more.

Berry stands ninth on Tennessee’s career kickoff return yardage chart with 994. He needs just two yards to move past Gary Moore (996) for eighth. His next target beyond Moore is 136 yards away, Dale Carter in seventh with 1,130.

11 – Jalen Reeves-Maybin tackles. Reeves-Maybin’s fourth double-digit tackle game of the season has the junior ranked fifth in the SEC and 23rd in the country in tackles with 67. His 2.5 tackles for loss moved him up to third in the SEC in TFLs with 10.5 on the season.

21 – First Downs by Tennessee, the most given up by Alabama in a game this season.

18 – Yards on Johnathon Johnson’s first quarter catch, his longest reception of the season.

101,821 – Crowd on Saturday. It was the fifth crowd of more than 101,000 that Tennessee had played in front of this season, the previous four coming in the Vols’ four games at Neyland Stadium.

53.0 – Yards covered by Trevor Daniel’s first punt of the day. Daniel continued his stellar season with four punts for a 43.2-yard average.

2 – True freshmen, Chance Hall and Jack Jones, to start on the offensive line for Tennessee. Each player was making the first start of his career.

267 – Consecutive games with a point scored by UT, dating back to Sept. 17, 1994. It marks the fourth-longest active streak in FBS, the 10th-longest in history.

4 – Offensive plays of 20+ yards by Tennessee. The Vols have 32 plays of 20 yards or more this season.

Fourth Down: A Look Ahead

27 – Points scored against Kentucky in 2013, the first road win for Joshua Dobbs as a starter.

77 – All-time wins against the Wildcats, including wins in 29 of the last 30 games in the series. Tennessee has beaten Kentucky more than any other opponent. The Vols are 77-24-9 against UK entering the 111th meeting between the teams, 36-14-3 in Lexington.

4 – Times Tennessee and Kentucky have met in a month other than November. The Vols and Wildcats last played a non-November game in 1944, when the teams met twice to make up for no game being playing in the cancelled 1943 season, Sept. 30 in Knoxville and Nov. 25 in Lexington, both UT wins. All but four games in the series, 1893, 1908, 1909 and the first game in 1944, have been played in November.

12 – All-time wins on Oct. 31, the next time Tennessee takes the field. The Vols have won back-to-back games on Halloween, against South Carolina in 1998 and 2009. They will look to make it three on Saturday when it’s once again Football Time in Tennessee!