Alabama Has Officially Lost Its Swagger

Alabama went to Knoxville in a game where Tennessee didn't score a point in the first half, turned the ball over three times, missed two field goals ... and the Tide still found a way to lose. This is no longer Nick Saban's fearsome program.

The Vols tried everything they could possibly think of to lose that game. I still can't even wrap my brain around the fact they somehow won it. But even as well as Dylan Sampson and the Tennessee defense played in the second half, Alabama just consistently shot itself in the foot and couldn't do anything it would have done routinely in years past. That program has lost its swagger.

I think there's a chance Kalen DeBoer ends up being a good coach in Tuscaloosa — if the fanbase doesn't turn on him too early — because he's been great everywhere he's been. But it's not far-fetched to say Alabama could easily be on a four-game losing streak right now and struggling for bowl eligibility the rest of the season. They lost to Vanderbilt and a Tennessee team that didn't score a point for half the game.

The fact that the program is Tuscaloosa is currently being run into the ground DOES NOT, however, make me enjoy this win any less. It might actually make it even better. They're dead.