Final: Alabama 37, Tennessee 6

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Well, the scare lasted all of two quarters, but the Alabama we expected showed up in the second half to dismantle Tennessee for the 37-6 victory.

With two weeks left until the ultimate showdown between Alabama and LSU, it comes as no surprise that Alabama was a little flat out of the gates. It was also no surprise that the Crimson Tide came out and pounded the Vols for the final two quarters.

Tennessee's game plan of smothering running back Trent Richardson up front came back to bite it as Alabama came out throwing in the third quarter. Quarterback AJ McCarron was nearly perfect and Tennessee's secondary could do nothing to stop him.

Once Tennessee had to account for McCarron's right arm, that freed up some space for Richardson, who ran for two scores in the second half.

Tennessee had absolutely no fire in the second half, partly because Alabama stole it from the Vols as soon as they took the field in the second half. All the emotion was on Alabama's sideline and in its wild fans.

The LSU chants didn't begin until 2:36 remaining in the fourth quarter, and, with both teams idle next weekend, the Crimson Tide can now officially put all of their focus on the Tigers.

Nov. 5 has been hyped up like the Super Bowl and it must have been killing Alabama and LSU players alike that they couldn't really talk about it. Now they can, and we might not hear the end of it until that game is over and a victor has been crowned.

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Alabama wearing Tennessee down

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- After opening the second half with a touchdown drive, Alabama went straight to work on sucking all of the life out of Tennessee's team.

The Crimson Tide defense totally shut down Tennessee on its first drives, needed just one play to score its second touchdown of the half and just wore out the Vols' defense with running backs Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy. The duo combined for 60 yards rushing, including a 12-yard touchdown run by Richardson, on Alabama's third scoring drive of the quarter to make it 27-6.

Tennessee had success loading the box in the first half, but now the Vols are fading. They can't tackle, get off blocks or put any pressure on Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron. When you look at Tennessee's sideline, there isn't much movement at all. The players have their heads down and most are sitting on the bench. The coaches don't appear to be doing much to get them going, either.

Alabama is simply having its way with Tennessee on both sides of the ball now. The teams we saw in the first half are long gone.

We still have another quarter remaining, but this one feels like it's over.

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Halftime: Alabama 17, Ole Miss 7

Ole Miss struck first, but Alabama charged back with 17 straight points to take a 17-7 lead into halftime in Oxford.

If not for a couple of holding penalties on center William Vlachos, Alabama's lead might be more and running back Trent Richardson would have at least one more touchdown. But he should be pleased with his two scores heading into the half.

Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron continues to impress and has completed 13 of his 17 pass attempts for 132 yards in the first two quarters.

Ole Miss was dealt a tough blow to its secondary early when senior cornerback Marcus Temple fractured his ankle on a play. While McCarron had a good first half, you have to give Ole Miss' defense credit for not falling apart after Temple went out. Alabama had 242 yards of offense in the first half, but only 17 points. That's a win for the Rebels at this point.

What is a major loss is that the offense drove 72 yards on its opening drive for the first score of the game, but hasn't netted anything since.

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