Alabama football: Crimson Tide pulls away from Tennessee Volunteers, sets up unbeaten showdown with LSU Tigers

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It didn’t take much.

After 30 minutes of a stalemate, Alabama struck quick and snapped into form after a familiar slow start to a Saturday night.

Three third quarter touchdowns ended any hope of a Tennessee stunner as Alabama pulled away for a 37-6 win in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Trading field goals in the first half wouldn’t be enough for the outmanned Vols, losers of five straight in the long-standing rivalry.

Now there’s no quieting thy hype leading into the Nov. 5 visit No. 1 LSU will pay to Tuscaloosa after weeks of hushed anticipation. For two quarters, Saturday night, the battle of the century was losing some of its shine.

Tide coach Nick Saban said he was relatively calm at halftime. Receiver Darius Hanks said the emotion was still thick.

“Coach Saban got on our butts,” Hanks said. “That’s all I can say, really. He jumped our butts.”

The Tennessee offense, which found success on the ground most of the first half, went first-down free in four third-quarter possessions. No stop was bigger than the second.

No. 2 Alabama (8-0, 5-0 SEC) was leading by a touchdown when the Vols opted to go for it on fourth and a foot at the Tide 40 early in the third quarter. Quarterback Matt Simms was stuffed at the line and AJ McCarron found Kenny Bell on the next play on a deep pass that put the Tide ahead 20-6.

Tide linebacker Nico Johnson said Alabama had been preparing for that quarterback sneak play all week. A quick timeout came from the Tide sideline before the snap.

“They wanted to come up to the line quick and not substitute personnel,” Saban said. “We were going to have to play them in nickel or dime, which was not big people. We called timeout and got the right guys in the game and they actually ran the quarterback sneak and our guys did a good job of penetrating gaps.”

The McCarron to Bell scoring connection was one of 10 straight Alabama offensive plays that went for either a first down or touchdown to open the half.

Unlike Alabama’s win last week at Ole Miss, most of the damage was done through the air. With Tennessee (3-4, 0-4 SEC) packing it in to stop Heisman candidate Trent Richardson, it became McCarron’s game. After throwing his first interception in six weeks on his second pass of the game, the sophomore settled in to throw for career-record numbers.

Tennessee found success in the first half by mixing the pass, run and trick plays. Twice it converted fourth downs on drives ending in field goals.

Vol running back Tauren Poole, the only to run for 100-plus yards in the past 54 Alabama games a year ago, had 70 Saturday. Just 17, however, came after halftime.

Even when Tennessee moved the ball, it never struck with a damaging big play. The longest gain of the night was a 21-yard pass to Zach Rogers for Simms, who completed 8 of 17 passes for 58 yards.

Meanwhile, Richardson overcame a slow start to compile respectable numbers. The junior ran for 77 yards on 17 carries and a pair of touchdowns. But his streak of six straight 100-yard games ended one short of owning the school record outright.

He had 17 yards after the opening quarter and 71 after three after the long passes loosened the Vols grip on the line of scrimmage.

By that point, McCarron and the Tide receivers had done all the damage necessary. Marquis Maze led the way with five catches for 106 yards.

McCarron threw for a career-best 284 yards on 17-for-26 passing after the 1-for-4 start and the interception.

“AJ, I think, got a little bit spooked,” Saban said. “They dropped eight guys on him and got the pick early in the game. That probably spooked him a bit but as the game went on, I think he played better.”

@BR Storylabel w/50graylabel:STATISTICS

Tennessee 3 3 0 0--6

Alabama 3 3 21 10--37

First Quarter

Tenn--FG Palardy 40, 3:58.

Ala--FG Shelley 26, 2:26.

Second Quarter

Ala--FG Shelley 29, 10:55.

Tenn--FG Palardy 52, 5:52.

Third Quarter

Ala--McCarron 2 run (Shelley kick), 11:08.

Ala--Bell 39 pass from McCarron (Shelley kick), 8:52.

Ala--Richardson 12 run (Shelley kick), 3:17.

Fourth Quarter

Ala--FG Foster 45, 11:22.

Ala--Richardson 1 run (Shelley kick), 9:27.

A--101,821.

Tenn Ala

First downs 6 19

Rushes-yards 32-92 38-143

Passing 63 294

Comp-Att-Int 9-18-1 18-28-1

Return Yards 30 33

Punts-Avg. 5-40.0 2-40.5

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0

Penalties-Yards 4-25 5-38

Time of Possession 27:42 32:18

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Tennessee, Poole 19-67, Lane 7-21, Neal 1-6, Young 1-6, Worley 1-0, Simms 3-(minus 8). Alabama, Richardson 17-77, Lacy 7-46, Fowler 9-27, Maze 1-(minus 1), McCarron 2-(minus 2), Team 2-(minus 4).

PASSING--Tennessee, Simms 8-17-1-58, Palardy 1-1-0-5. Alabama, McCarron 17-26-1-284, P.Sims 1-2-0-10.

RECEIVING--Tennessee, Poole 3-10, D.Rogers 2-32, Rivera 1-13, A.Anderson 1-5, Young 1-2, Neal 1-1. Alabama, Maze 5-106, Hanks 3-55, Bell 3-52, Richardson 3-33, Smelley 2-34, Lacy 2-14.

This story was originally published October 23, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Alabama football: Crimson Tide pulls away from Tennessee Volunteers, sets up unbeaten showdown with LSU Tigers."