TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After Alabama beat Tennessee 37-20 on Saturday night, coach Kalen DeBoer wanted to make sure his players enjoyed their postgame cigars to celebrate another win in their storied rivalry.
There is still a long way to go, but what Alabama has done to get to this point is worthy of a celebratory cigar too.
After a Week 1 loss to Florida State, Alabama has stacked one victory after the next, winning six straight games while finding an edge and different ways to motivate itself. Proving it was better than the team that opened in Tallahassee is certainly one of those reasons. But there were others. Proving the team could win on the road and doing so against Georgia. Beating Vanderbilt after losing to the Commodores last year. And Saturday night, regaining the edge against Tennessee after losing to the Volunteers last year too.
The result? Alabama is the first team in SEC history to win four straight games against ranked teams with no bye week mixed in, according to ESPN Research.
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“They’ve got an edge to them still and haven’t lost it since the beginning there after Week 1. That’s hard to do,” DeBoer said. “It’s really hard to do. As you go through the weeks, there’s been enough reasons, different motivation factors, to get up for games, and our guys, each and every week, find a way to do it. So we’ve got to keep the pedal down.”
The turning point Saturday came just before halftime. Tennessee was on the Alabama 1-yard line with eight seconds left in the quarter down 16-7. Joey Aguilar dropped back and threw right toward tight end Miles Kitselman, who appeared to be open in the end zone. But Zabien Brown jumped the route and intercepted the pass, returning it 99 yards for the score to give Alabama a 23-7 lead.
“The ball fell right in my hand,” Brown said. “I [saw] open field, and I started running. I’m like, if I get tackled, the time [will] go out. So I got to find a way to get in that [end] zone.”
It was a triumphant day for the defense, which had struggled at times to limit explosive plays and put its stamp on a game. Alabama also had a safety in the first half and made life uncomfortable for Aguilar all night. Tennessee came into the game as the highest-scoring offense in the SEC, but Alabama held the Volunteers to a season-low 20 points and 410 total yards. Tennessee scored on only two of its five red zone chances.
Alabama fans lit their cigars in the stadium well before the game ended. It was Alabama’s 11th straight home win in the series and ran DeBoer’s record at home to 11-0 since his arrival last year. He has won six straight since switching to a black hoodie on the sideline, something that has become a major talking point among the Alabama fan base.
Asked if he was giving the fans what they wanted by continuing to wear the black hoodie, DeBoer said, “This isn’t new. I’ve done this for years. But we’re going to ride the momentum. I told the guys not to get any [cigar] ashes on it.”
The Crimson Tide sit at 4-0 in SEC play and are one of two unbeaten teams left in the league, along with Texas A&M. Up next is a trip to South Carolina before an open date.
“I think we understand the week of preparation gets you mentally in the right space to where you’re confident going out on the football field,” DeBoer said. “When you’re confident, you got a little more energy. And that’s really what I see with our guys, and that fires me up.”
