Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer got a sneak peek at Tennessee’s offense live and in-person when the Crimson Tide played South Florida, which is coached by former Vols’ offensive coordinator Alex Golesh.
The game ended in a 42-16 win as Bama pulled away in the fourth quarter to secure what looked like a one-sided victory. However, the contest was closer than the score would indicate. Alabama scored 28 points in the final 10 minutes to beat the Bulls in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama entered the fourth quarter leading by just 14-13 despite being a 30-point favorite. This is Golesh’s second season at South Florida. He secured the job, in part, by being a big part of the Vols’ explosive season in 2022 in which they were rated as one of the best offenses in the nation and set several Tennessee records.
“There’s certainly some carry over and a lot of it starts with just tempo, starts with alignments and things like that,” DeBoer said during the SEC teleconference on Wednesday when asked to compare the offensive approaches of South Florida and the Vols. “I think talking about a couple different types of ways where they want to move the ball, even though a lot of it is revolving around the run game.”
While Tennessee and South Florida both depend on the run, they do it in different ways. The Bulls are more apt to rely on their quarterback to run the football whereas Tennessee likes to use Dylan Sampson to carry the load.
“With South Florida and the quarterback being such a major player with his feet, and not that Nico isn’t,” DeBoer said. “He’s certainly a really athletic guy, but they’re handing the ball off more than what South Florida had done. And then they got some great speed on the outside and letting him sling it around, use his arm talent.
“He’s got a live arm and they pick and choose their times, situational football where (the Vols’ coaches) use Nico and the read game. He’s been very successful at those moments of making good decisions, so we got to be ready for that.”
That’s complimentary but debatable. Iamaleava hasn’t always made good decisions. The redshirt sophomore has thrown three interceptions and lost three fumbles this season. He also ran out of bounds on the final play of the Arkansas loss with no time remaining on the clock.
As for running the football, Iamaleava is averaging just 3.1-yards per carry on 44 carries for 135 yards, which is ninth best among quarterbacks in the SEC. By comparison, South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown has run the ball 68 times for 269 yards and is averaging four-yards per carry.
No. 11 Tennessee plays No. 7 Alabama at 3:30 EST on Saturday in Neyland Stadium. The Crimson Tide is considered a 1.5-favorite over the Vols. Both teams are 5-1 meaning a loss would most likely end either teams hopes of make the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
