Tennessee at Alabama Line

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the No. 2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide will host the Tennessee Volunteers in a SEC matchup that doesn’t figure to be close. The Crimson Tide improved to 7-0 overall and 4-0 inside the conference with a 52-7 win at Ole Miss on Saturday. The Volunteers dropped to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in the SEC with a 7-38 blowout loss at home to LSU. The Crimson Tide have won four straight in the series, including a 41-10 win at Tennessee last year.

Taking a look at the week 8 college football spreads, oddsmakers currently have Alabama favored by 28.5-points over Tennessee.

Tennessee Volunteers:

The future doesn’t look bright for the Volunteers inside the SEC, after facing Alabama this Saturday they host South Carolina and go on the road to face Arkansas.

Tennessee lost starting quarterback Tyler Bray to a thumb injury in their 12-20 loss against Georgia, and the offense really struggled without him on the field against LSU. Senior Matt Simms completed just 6 of 20 for 128 yards with two interceptions., and will face an Alabama defense that ranks 5th in the country allowing just 146.0 passing yards a game.

Senior running back Tauren Poole provided most of the offense against LSU, rushing for 70 yards and a touchdown on 19 attempts. Poole figures to be more involved in the offense without Bray, but it’s hard to imagine him having much luck against Alabama this week. The Crimson Tide are holding opposing teams to just 38.1 ypg on the ground.

Simply put, the Volunteers have no chance of winning this game. Even if Simms has a better game, they aren’t going to be able to run the ball and sustain drives against the Crimson Tide defense.

Alabama Crimson Tide:

The Crimson Tide allowed Ole Miss to take a 7-0 lead with a five play 72-yard drive to open the game, but absolutely dominated the game from that point on. Alabama would allow just 69 yards of total offense the rest of the game.

As good as the Alabama defense was, the offense turned in a pretty impressive performance of their own. The Crimson Tide punted just once the entire game, while piling on seven touchdowns and 615 yards of total offense.

Trent Richardson needed just 18 carries to rush for 183 yards and four touchdowns, while Jalston Fowler added 125 yards and two scores on nine attempts. Alabama finished the game with 389 yards on the ground, and are now averaging 241.6 rushing yards a game.

Sophomore quarterback A.J. McCarron went 19 of 24 for 224 yards and touchdown. It was the third time in the last four games that McCarron threw for at least 200 yards while completing at least 75% of his attempts. McCarron hasn’t thrown a single interception, since giving the ball away twice in the opener against Kent State.

Tennessee is a lot strong defensively than what the Crimson Tide faced against Ole Miss, but Alabama should have no trouble moving the ball and putting points on the board. The Volunteers biggest weakness has been stopping the run, giving up 155.8 ypg. They allowed 260 rushing yards to LSU last week.

Betting Trends:

Tennessee is just 2-8-1 ATS in their last 11 games as an underdog.

Alabama is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games as a favorite of 10.5 or greater.

Steve Janus delivered another winning week in college football. The expert handicapper is 23-7 over his last 30 college picks, and ready to help you make a profit in week 8.

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