Five questions heading into No. 2 Alabama at Tennessee
Alabama passed its biggest test of the season with a 41-24 victory over Georgia, now it’s looking to continue that success as it travels to one of its most heated rivals. The Crimson Tide is currently a 21-point favorite over Tennessee heading into Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff. Here are five questions to consider leading up to the matchup.
Will we start to see the Dylan Moses of old?
It’s been a rough start for Alabama’s defense, and its leader hasn’t been immune to the decline. Returning from a season-long ACL injury, Dylan Moses has yet to reach the standard of play that helped him become a Butkus Award finalist in 2018.
Through four games, the redshirt junior has registered a 51.4 defensive grade from Pro Football Focus, 16.3 points lower than his 2018 mark. Moses was Alabama’s third-lowest graded defender against Texas A&M and four-lowest against Ole Miss. However, things seem to be getting a bit better for the five-star linebacker.
Moses earned player of the week honors from Alabama coaches over the weekend after recording 10 tackles including a sack against Georgia. While the performance earned a pedestrian 53.7 mark from PFF, Nick Saban was much more praiseful in his review Monday.
“I thought he played extremely well in this last game,” Saban said. “He showed great leadership, really helped the other players play well. I think it was by far his best game in terms of execution, doing what he was supposed to do.
“I feel like this will maybe get him confident, physically confident, so that he can and continue to play well and perform well. But I thought he played extremely well in this game.”
Moses still has room to improve, especially in coverage where his eight allowed receptions on 13 balls thrown his way have resulted in 120 yards and a touchdown. However, last weekend marked his second straight double-digit tackle performance, giving him a team-high 37 stops through four games.
Perhaps that’s a sign of good things to come for the star linebacker his defense.
Will Tennessee stick with Guarantano at QB?
Tennessee quarterback Jarret Guarantano threw more touchdown passes to Kentucky defenders than he did to his own receivers last week. That came one week after the senior committed three turnovers in the second half of a loss to Georgia.
Will that prompt Jeremy Pruitt to make a change behind center? The Tennesee head coach expressed confidence in Guarantano following the Volunteers’ loss to the Bulldogs but seems to have softened his stance following a humiliating defeat to Kentucky.
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