Getty ESPN "First Take" host Stephen A. Smith said he believed Alabama can't beat Tennessee without Bryce Young under center.
When the Alabama Crimson Tide takes the field at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on October 15, there will be a much different feel for the Third Saturday in October matchup than there’s been in quite some time. Since a narrow win for Nick Saban’s championship 2015 squad, the Volunteers haven’t come within three touchdowns in a one-sided rivalry Tennessee hasn’t won since 2006.
But ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said he was picking, for the first time in a long time, Alabama to lose.
“For the first time since I’ve been sitting up here, I’m actually thinking Alabama’s going to lose a game,” Smith told Paul Finebaum on the October 12 episode of ESPN’s “First Take.” “It’s the God’s honest truth. In the last three or four years that I’ve been on this show, I’ve never sat up here on a weekend and thought Alabama was going to lose. I actually never thought they would lose a game in four years until today.”
The Volunteers have nothing to lose and everything to gain, Smith said.
“Tennessee’s playing with house money because the expectation is always that they are going to be the ones to lose to Alabama,” he said. “[Alabama’s] at Tennessee. They need [star quarterback] Bryce Young in order to roll. I think Tennessee is going to knock off Alabama unless Bryce Young plays.”
Both teams are undefeated, and Volunteers quarterback Hendon Hooker is being touted as a top Heisman contender. That hype comes from putting up the third-best quarterback rating in the country and throwing 10 touchdowns to zero interceptions on 1,432 yards through the air. For the Crimson Tide, the absence of Young and the struggles of his primary backup, Jalen Milroe, have them looking vulnerable on the road. In Week 2, they nearly lost to Texas but came back in the fourth-quarter comeback, and in Week 5, they were on the ropes after Arkansas knocked out Young in the first half. Another late comeback saved the Tide.
Stephen A. Smith Said Jalen Milroe ‘Ain’t No Damn Bryce Young’
Despite throwing for three touchdowns and adding another 83 yards on the ground against Texas A&M on October 8, Milroe has come under fire for not being as dominant under center as Young typically is. Smith was particularly poignant in his putdown of Milroe, saying he “ain’t no damn Bryce Young” on the “First Take” appearance.
Milroe isn’t Young. He was thrust into the starting role after the Tide’s 2020 championship season, appearing in four games before eventually being redshirted to close out the 2021 season. Milroe, a dual threat from Katy, Texas, is expected to compete with Ty Simpson next season for the starting job.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban said he believed that Milroe’s struggles come from internalizing things too much and not letting the game come to him. “I think Jalen played with a lot of anxiety,” Saban told reporters during an October 10 media scrum. “I don’t think he allowed himself to let his training sort of guide him.”
Josh Heupel Lauds Young, Has Little to Say About Milroe
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel had little to say about Milroe during his October 10 press conference. Heupel simply offered that Milroe was “athletic and dynamic with the football in his hands.”
On Young, Heupel had a far more expansive scouting report. “Arm talent, ability to be accurate with the football, great decision maker back there,” said the Tennessee head coach. “The X-factor for him is his ability to move and extend and make plays outside of the pocket and inside of the pocket. He does a good job in finding the soft spot in the pocket. When he escapes, he’s a thrower first and finds guys if you don’t match them out if you’re in zone coverage. Then has the ability to tuck it and make big plays, too. He’s got the ability to apply pressure to you always.”