TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - One thing quarterback AJ McCarron and No. 1 Alabama won’t stand for is being labeled something as mundane as “the red team.”
They prefer the defending national champions.
The Crimson Tide hammered that point home with Saturday’s 45-10 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers, who used that label as a motivational ploy during the week.
McCarron said he took that personally and “wanted to come out and score as many points as possible on them” and not leave the game whatever the score.
“For [them] to kind of say we haven’t deserved their respect to call us Alabama, they call us ‘red team,’ and for their head coach to come out and say they can play against anybody, I don’t think we’re just anybody,” McCarron said.
“We won two national championships in a row and we’re undefeated right now, so we’re not just anybody.”
Indeed, Alabama (8-0, 5-0) has outscored its past six opponents 246-26.
T.J. Yeldon scored on three 1-yard runs and McCarron completed 19 of 27 passes for 275 yards and 2 first-half touchdowns for the Tide, which raced to a 35-0 halftime lead in a thoroughly one-sided rivalry game.
Landon Collins returned an interception 89 yards for another score.
McCarron threw for a 54-yard touchdown to Amari Cooper and a 22-yarder to Kevin Norwood. It was Cooper’s longest of the season and his second touchdown.
The Volunteers (4-4, 1-3) dropped their seventh consecutive in the rivalry, tying the most consecutive defeats for either team. They couldn’t build on the momentum from an upset of No. 20 South Carolina that ended a 19-game skid against ranked teams.
“We probably played our worst half of football we played all year,” Tennessee Coach Butch Jones said. “Some of that was due to the quality of our opponent, and some of that was self-inflicted wounds.”
Tennessee also won seven in a row from 1995-2001, but Jones’ program clearly has plenty of catching up to do.
Jones might have gotten a head start when he turned to freshman quarterback Josh Dobbs to open the second half in his first college action, replacing Justin Worley.
Worley, who hurt his thumb last week, completed 8 of 15 passes for 120 yards and was intercepted twice.
“[Worley] could have went but it was hard for him to throw with any velocity, so instead of risking further injury we went with Josh,” Jones said.
“For a true freshman, playing for the first time in this kind of environment, I thought he did very well.”
Sports, Pages 32 on 10/27/2013