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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Gridiron Gab Week Fourteen Preview – Indianapolis at Tennessee

Though the Indianapolis Colts have been struggling for the past few weeks, they need to get back on track against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night. Peyton Manning has thrown eleven interceptions and wasn’t his old self, but the Colts are still in the playoff-race as they trail one game behind the Jacksonville Jaguars with a 6-6 record. If Indianapolis wins this game and beats Jacksonville at home a week later, they lead the division, actually. But it starts out against Tennessee, and that’s where Manning has to get back on track.

“It’s pretty simple. All we have to do is look at what we do at this time of year,” Indianapolis coach Jim Caldwell said. “We have to be able to string four together in order to get that done. I don’t think there’s anything more plain than that.”

Surprisingly, it’s still possible for the Titans to make the playoffs, as they can win the rest of the games for the season, but they need some teams lose for the next four weeks. The Titans started out strong, leading the AFC South with a 5-2 record, but with the problems between Vince Young and Jeff Fisher and more helped to the five-game losing-streak, and that is still counting.

“We can’t lick our wounds for too long,” defensive tackle Jovan Haye said after Sunday’s 17-6 loss to Jacksonville. “We’ve got the Colts on Thursday. Five-game losing streak. The only way to stop the bleeding is to win the game.”

Manning has played great against the Titans in his last three, with five touchdowns and only one interception. The main key for a win is to not commit turnovers and for the defense to make them to give the ball to the offense. But it is going to be hard, with Kelvin Hayden out and Jerraud Powers. Bob Sanders was also recently placed on injured-reserve yesterday.

To help the lack of run-support and to improve the passing game, Indianapolis gave Dominic Rhodes a third shot with the Colts. He has played great for the franchise and will really help out with the injuries to Joseph Addai, Mike Hart, and Donald Brown.

The Titans are good at getting interceptions, tied for eighth in the league with 15 of them. Manning needs to be careful against this secondary.

“I don’t make any excuses,” said Manning, who also has passed for eight touchdowns in the last three games. “I’m continuing to throw, I’ll keep throwing. I hope I throw it to our guys.”

Manning has to pass all the time, as the offensive line shows no support whatsoever. Addai has been gone since mid-October, and he’ll most likely be back for the most important game of the regular season, which are against the Jags. Manning could be going on to throw the most pass-attempts in NFL history for a regular season.

“Obviously, we have to throw to move the ball right now,” Manning said. “I think we know that right now. When we do move it, that’s how we’re doing it.”

But Rhodes will definitely help out. The big keys to winning are just two: don’t turnover the ball on offense and shut down Chris Johnson. With that, the Colts can win. I think they will as they advance to 7-6, and a showdown between the Jags will come up next week, as Indianapolis hosts them with full-confidence.

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