Alabama Football vs. Tennessee Postgame Notes
10/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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GAME CAPTAINS: Alabama's captains for Saturday's annual "Third Saturday in October" matchup with Tennessee were senior Reggie Ragland, and juniors Jonathan Allen and O.J. Howard. The Crimson Tide won the toss and elected to defer to the second half, with the Volunteers receiving the opening kickoff.
SERIES HISTORY: Alabama and Tennessee met on Saturday for the 98th time in a series that the Crimson Tide now leads, 52-38-7 (53-37-8 actual). The rivalry dates back to the 1901 season, when the two teams first met in Birmingham and finished in a 6-6 tie. The Crimson Tide has won the last nine meetings against the Vols, the longest run for Alabama in the series since an 11-game winning streak from 1971-81.
UNRANKED, NO PROBLEM UNDER SABAN: With the win over an unranked Tennessee team on Saturday, Alabama has defeated 58 consecutive unranked teams under ninth-year head coach Nick Saban. The last loss to an unranked team came against Auburn to close out the 2007 season. The current streak began with a win over Colorado on Dec. 30, 2007, in the Independence Bowl. Under Saban, Alabama holds a 62-3 (58-3 after vacated wins) mark against unranked opponents, including a perfect mark in unranked matchups every season since 2008.
4-3 UNDER SABAN WHEN TIED AT THE HALF: Alabama and Tennessee entered halftime tied at 7-7. With the win, the Crimson Tide is now 4-3 under head coach Nick Saban when tied at halftime. In addition to today's 19-14 victory over the Vols, Alabama also beat LSU in 2008, (27-21), Auburn in 2009 (26-21) and Tennessee in 2011 (37-6) all when tied at the half.
SABAN VS. THE VOLS: With the 19-14 win, Alabama head coach Nick Saban has compiled an 11-1 (.917) career record against Tennessee. During his stint at LSU, Saban faced Tennessee three times, twice during the regular season and once in postseason play.
ALABAMA-TENNESSEE TV RESULTS: The 2015 game marked the 38th televised game in series history. The Alabama-Tennessee game has been televised every year since 1989. The Crimson Tide owns a 23-13-2 record over the Volunteers in televised games.
SABAN'S HOME RECORD: Alabama head coach Nick Saban is 113-19 across his four career stops in home games. He owns the advantage at every stop he has made during his collegiate coaching career, including a 54-7 mark while at Alabama. Saban has won 20 of his last 21 contests inside Bryant-Denny Stadium and has lost back-to-back matchups only one time, with the consecutive losses coming at the end of the 2007 season (LSU and ULM).
SABAN'S SEC HOME RECORD: Alabama head coach Nick Saban owns a 45-10 all-time record when playing in a Southeastern Conference game at home, going 16-4 during his time at LSU and owning a 29-6 record at Alabama. While with the Crimson Tide, Saban has posted four perfect home SEC slates and has not lost more than one home conference game in any season other than 2007 (two losses). All six of his losses at home have been by seven points or less with half of those by three or fewer. Under Saban, Alabama has outscored its SEC home opponents 1,133-517 (32.4-14.8 points per game) and has limited the opposition to 14 points or less on 21 occasions, including six shutouts victories.
SABAN VS. SEC OPPONENTS: Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban owns a 91-26 (.778) career record in 117 games against SEC opponents across three different stops (Michigan State, LSU and Alabama). While at Alabama, he has compiled a 61-13 (.824) record across conference foes, and is outscoring opponents by a staggering 2,977-1,150, or 40.2-15.5 points per game. Of his 13 losses against SEC opponents while at Alabama, all but two (Florida, 2008 and South Carolina, 2010) have been by seven points or less. Saban's first matchup with an SEC team came in the 1995 Independence Bowl against LSU, where his Michigan State Spartans fell, 45-26, to the Tigers. He would later go on to coach LSU to 30-12 overall record against conference opponents.
ALABAMA'S TV?RECORD: Alabama has compiled a 232-131-4 (.638) all-time record in 367 televised games (not including pay-per-view, tape-delayed or closed circuit telecasts).
RAGLAND LEADING THE TIDE D: Senior linebacker Reggie Ragland has been a force on the defense. The Tide's captain in the middle has a team-leading 71 tackles, including 5.0 for a loss (-18 yards), to go with three pass breakups, three quarterback hurries, two sacks (-8 yards) and two forced fumbles. In six of the eight games during the 2015 season, Ragland led the Alabama defense in stops, including a season-high 12 tackles in the win against Tennessee today. He's had nine tackles twice this season, first against Ole Miss and again at Texas A&M. Against the Aggies, he helped stifle a potent A&M offensive attack, notching nine total stops (eight solo), one sack (-5 yards) and 1.5 tackles for a loss (-8 yards) to mark the ninth time for his career that Ragland has led the Tide in tackles. He also tied for the team lead against Georgia with eight stops and backed that up with another eight tackles in the win over Arkansas. His other four team-leading games came a season ago when the linebacker stepped up for the Crimson Tide and finished second on the team with 95 total tackles while accounting for 10.5 tackles for loss (-27 yards), 1.5 sacks (-12 yards), one interception, three pass breakups, three fumble recoveries, one forced fumble and a quarterback hurry.
FOSTER SETS CAREER HIGH MARK FOR TACKLES: Junior linebacker Reuben Foster set a career high for tackles in today's game with 11 total. His previous career high was seven, which he recorded in last season's opener against West Virginia.
CONSISTENCY THE KEY FOR REED: Senior lineman Jarran Reed has been a force along the defensive front. He currently ranks second on the team in stops with 39, and has added 3.5 tackles for loss (-7 yards), one sack (-3 yards), five quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and one fumble recovery. In the Georgia game, he tied for the team lead in tackles with eight, a season-high total for the starter. Reed had five or more tackles in the first five games of this season and is averaging 4.9 stops per game.
FIRST HALF POINTS: With Derrick Henry's 20-yard touchdown run for a score on Alabama's first offensive drive of the day, the Crimson Tide has scored in the first half of its last 111 games, the longest streak in the nation. The last time UA failed to score in the first half was on Sept. 29, 2007, when Alabama and Florida State headed into halftime in a scoreless tie. The Seminoles won that game, 21-14. Alabama has a 95-16 record during the streak.
SCORING STREAK CONTINUES: With a 20-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry on the Crimson Tide's first offensive drive of the day, Alabama has now scored in 191 consecutive games - the longest streak in program history.
ALABAMA BACKS MOVING UP IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Both Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake continued their rise up the career rushing list against Tennessee. In today's game, Henry rushed for 143 yards and has now amassed 2,416 yards for his career to rank 12th in Alabama history. Drake collected 10 yards against the Vols, placing him at 36th on the UA all-time rushing list with 1,352 yards.
HENRY REACHING THE END ZONE CONSISTENTLY: With his 20-yard run for a score on the Tide's first offensive drive of the game, Derrick Henry recorded his 13th straight game with a touchdown. The 13-game streak is currently the longest active streak in the nation. The streak is also the longest in Alabama history, with the previous high being 10 by Terry Davis across the 1971 and 1972 seasons. The last time Henry failed to notch a score was in the LSU game last season on Nov. 8.
HENRY PASSING THE CENTURY MARK: Derrick Henry's 143-yard performance against Tennessee pushed him past the century mark for the 10th time in his career, and the fifth 100-plus performance this season. The 10 games for 100 or more ranks him eight in Alabama history. He went for 148 at Georgia on Oct. 3, 127 against Ole Miss and 147 yards with three touchdowns against Wisconsin to open the 2015 campaign. Henry had a 141-yard performance against Missouri in the SEC Championship Game last season. He also went for 111 on 20 carries with a score against Florida and 113 on 17 carries with a touchdown against West Virginia in 2014. As a freshman, Henry produced a Sugar Bowl game against Oklahoma that saw the first-year back go for 100 yards on eight attempts with a touchdown, while also collecting 111 yards on six carries with a score against Arkansas.
HENRY STANDING OUT AS A STARTER: Junior Derrick Henry earned the starting nod at tailback this season and has filled that role every game since. With 143 yards rushing versus Tennessee, in 10 games as a starter junior running back Derrick Henry has rushed for 1,246 yards on 205 carries (6.08 yards per carry) with 16 touchdowns. Prior to 2015, Henry started only two games - Western Carolina and Ohio State in 2014 - but in those 10 combined starts, he has proven to be worthy. He has collected at least one rushing touchdown in each start, and has notched double-digit scoring days five times. Through the air, he has hauled in 11 passes for 132 yards (12.0 yards per catch) with one receiving score.
HOWARD SETS A CAREER-HIGH FOR RECEPTIONS: Crimson Tide junior tight end O.J. Howard set a career high for receptions against Tennessee with seven catches. His previous mark for receptions in a game was four, which he accomplished two other times, with the most recent coming against Ole Miss this season.
SCOTT FINDING HIS RHYTHM: Sophomore punter JK Scott has found his rhythm in recent weeks. He is averaging 49.0 yards per punt over the past three games. He punted four times for 199 yards with a long of 56 against Tennessee and four times for 200 yards against Arkansas with two inside the 20-yard line for a 50.0 yards per punt average and a season-long of 58 yards. At Texas A&M, he averaged 48.2 yards on eight punts (386 yards) with a long of 56 yards. Scott's season average has climbed to 43.3 yards per game to rank sixth in the SEC (entering today's game).
