The stage is set for this third Saturday in October. It’s the game that has been circled on many Tennessee fans’ calendars all season.
After coming off of an overtime win against Florida last weekend, the Vols host another huge SEC rival Saturday as Alabama rolls into Knoxville. This matchup always has huge implications for the season, and maybe more this year than in recent memory.
But hosting two big programs back-to-back, as Tennessee is doing, surely puts some serious pressure on the Vols. Or does it?
“It’ll come off as cliche, but it doesn’t,” center Cooper Mays told the Vol Report on Friday. “I never really thought about it that way. I think there’s big games throughout every week in our season. It seems like with how the SEC is and everything. But yeah, it’s two big deals back-to-back weeks. It’s a really good test for us, honestly.”
It was only two years ago that Tennessee stunned Alabama, beating them 52-49. Last year’s battle found the Vols on the losing end, 34-20. A strong first half of play was not enough to hold off the Tide. Looking back on that game and also focusing on this week’s play is in the forefront of the players’ minds.
“I feel like you just gotta finish,” Mays said of last year’s game. “I think the biggest thing from that game specifically was we weren’t finishing in the red zone. So, I felt like that was a big takeaway from that game. But just in general, in a more broad spectrum, just trying to finish games and if you got an advantage then keep it, you know what I’m saying? I think if you’ve got that much points on the board and you’re up by that much, you take advantage of it and finish it.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava started off the season strong, but has been tested in the last few games. Having played six seasons with the Vols, Mays knows his veteran standing and role as a leader on the squad is needed to boost his young QB.
“I’m just trying to reaffirm (Iamaleava) and give him confidence and let him know that all he has to do is just be him,” Mays said. “And we’re going to keep doing the best we can to keep him up and keep him protected. And no matter what has happened or what has went wrong, that we’re there for him and that we’re doing our best and we’re going to keep doing that.
“And it doesn’t take anything extraordinary. It just takes everybody doing their job. So just making sure he has confidence in us and further instilling in him that we have confidence in him. So, it’s kind of a win win.”
Alabama may have suffered one of their worst losses this season, when they lost to Vanderbilt 40-35 two weeks ago. However, even without Nick Saban at the helm, they are not a team to sleep on.
“(Alabama is) very, very, very strong and violent… I mean, you can only play football so many ways. Like I said, the most athletic and violent, whoever is that day is going to be victorious.”
Mays, Iamaleava and team know there’s work to be done. But they are eager to get out on the field Saturday and show the college football world that they are still the team to beat.
“We’re just excited to get better and keep getting better, you know?” Mays said. “Not probably where we want to be in our last few performances, but everybody’s excited and ready to get better.”
