Alabama walked out of Knoxville with more than a loss. It left with a full stack of offensive questions, and the Crimson Tide’s receiver usage might be near the top of the list.
In a 26-10 defeat to Tennessee, Alabama produced only one touchdown, and that score was helped along by a defensive takeaway that set the Tide up inside the red zone. Beyond that, the offense never found much traction. Alabama finished with just 201 yards, and the breakdown covered every part of the unit: the quarterback play was off, the blocking didn’t hold, the run game never got rolling, and the receivers weren’t getting separation.
That last piece makes the snap counts stand out even more.
With star WR Ryan Coleman-Williams out, there was supposed to be a path for more production from Derek Meadows, Noah Rogers, and Cederian Morgan. Instead, the load mostly fell on Meadows.
He was on the field for 51 of Alabama’s 55 offensive snaps, trailing only Rico Scott’s 52 and topping Lotzeir Brooks by 14 snaps. Rogers and Morgan, meanwhile, were on the field just two snaps apiece, according to PFF data.
That usage is especially notable because Kalen DeBoer said before the game that Rogers would “more than likely” see more chances with Coleman-Williams sidelined. Alabama did not follow through on that idea. Instead, it stuck with Meadows, who caught two passes for eight yards and never really stressed the Tennessee defense.
The bigger issue is what comes next.
Alabama’s season is suddenly hanging by a thread after the offensive dud in Knoxville. At 5-2 after a second straight loss, the Tide now has to win five straight to finish the regular season and put itself in position for a College Football Playoff berth. At 9-3, Alabama would be right on the bubble.
Coleman-Williams is also expected to miss next week’s game against Texas A&M, so the receiver situation isn’t getting easier. His absence mattered against Tennessee, and it figures to matter again.
So far, Meadows and Scott have been steady, but neither has shown he can truly change a game on the outside. Alabama needs more than solid.
That leaves Rogers and Morgan as the obvious candidates to force their way into the picture, even if there’s no guarantee they’ll finally get the kind of run that lets them matter. Rogers arrived as a major Transfer Portal pickup to help replace Isaiah Horton, who will be on the Aggies’ sideline next week.
He turned heads in the spring, but a knee injury kept him out for the first part of the season. He has been back for the last three weeks and should be healthy enough for a larger role.
Morgan came in with plenty of buzz of his own. He was the top prize in Alabama’s WR recruiting class, one of the state’s best players last year, and drew strong reviews all offseason for his sure hands and his ridiculous catch radius. He still has work to do as a blocker, but he has been targeted only once this season, and that one touch turned into a 21-yard touchdown against Florida State.
The Tide’s offensive problems run deep, and most of the attention belongs on Ryan Grubb and the play-calling. But the personnel choices are part of the story, too. Sitting talented receivers and sticking with limited production hasn’t helped much so far.
Maybe that changes against Texas A&M. Alabama fans have heard enough to know not to count on it.
In Other News...
DeBoer Called Out What Fueled Alabamas Offensive Meltdown At Tennessee
Tennessees defense spent the afternoon turning Alabamas offense into a mess, and the numbers told the story as much as the score did. DeSean Bishop ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns in No. 14 Tennessees 26-10 win over No. 6 Alabama, while the Crimson Tide managed only 201 total yards and went just 2 of 13 on third down. The turnovers piled up, too, and the result was a game in which Alabama rarely looked settled long enough to build any rhythm.
Kalen DeBoer pointed to the same issue at halftime, when he said his team needed to stay composed and make better decisions. Thats the part Alabama will probably spend the most time sorting through after a loss like this, because the problems were not limited to one bad series or one breakdown. Against a Tennessee defense that kept forcing the issue, the Tide never found a clean offensive answer, and the frustration only mounted as the game slipped away. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Suddenly Has Two Crucial Injury Questions After Tennessee Loss
Alabamas bruising night in the loss to Tennessee brought more than just a setback in the standings, it added two injury situations the Crimson Tide will now have to sort through. Cornerback Zabien Brown and running back EJ Crowell both went down with lower-extremity injuries in the first half, forcing Alabama to keep adjusting on the fly in a game already shaped by absences and patchwork depth at multiple spots.
Brown made it back to the sideline in the second half, offering at least a small sign of hope, but Crowell did not return and left with a knee brace. With Alabama already missing several key players and leaning on replacements throughout the game, the health of both Brown and Crowell could quickly become one of the biggest questions heading into the next stretch of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Alabamas Offense Has Created A Playoff Problem Fans Cant Ignore
After a fast start that had Alabama looking like a playoff lock, the offense has hit a stretch that has made the margin for error a lot thinner. Consecutive losses to Georgia and Tennessee have put the spotlight on a unit that once seemed to have answers, with Kalen DeBoer pointing to the run game, penalties and the lack of explosive plays as reasons the Tide have stumbled.
At 5-2, Alabama is still very much alive in the College Football Playoff conversation, but the path forward looks different now. The bigger concern is whether the offense can regain enough rhythm and consistency to keep the season from turning into a weekly referendum on how much the Tide can afford to slip again. [Read more 🡒]