Well, the Alabama Crimson Tide just dropped one to the Tennessee Volunteers, and there is no sugarcoating it. The Vols handled Alabama inside Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, and it was not a pretty game by any means.

Losses like this one don’t leave much room for praise, but a couple of players still deserve credit. The list on the other side is a lot longer. Here are the winners and losers for the Crimson Tide from a rough afternoon against Tennessee.

Alabama winners vs. Tennessee

Ivan Taylor

Ivan Taylor came up with a big-time interception over the middle of the field, picking off George MacIntyre and giving Alabama hope in a game where it had little of it. That was Taylor’s second interception of the year. He has been a bright spot in the Crimson Tide secondary, and Saturday was no exception.

Luke Metz

Luke Metz played well for most of the game. The third and fourth quarters got away from Alabama’s defense as a whole, but I’m not pinning that on Metz. His recovered muffed punt was the highlight. He got down the field in a hurry and gave Alabama a chance to steal some life back. It didn’t end up mattering on the scoreboard, but it was a winning play, and Metz goes down as our second and final winner.

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Alabama losers vs. Tennessee

Offensive execution

I can’t even blame offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb or Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer as much as I have to blame the execution itself. The illegal formations, the false starts, stepping on the foot of quarterback Keelan Russell, the fumbles, the interceptions, and the inability to pick up easy yards all piled up.

Penalties

Penalties were a big part of the problem. Alabama was trying to drive for a comeback and hold off the Vols, and it kept shooting itself in the foot time and time again. Some of that falls on DeBoer, too. If you aren’t coaching it out of players, you are allowing it to happen.

Injuries

Alabama lost cornerback Zabian Brown and running back E.J. Crowell during the game. The Crimson Tide was already without wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams, who had a knee scope, and starting center Racin Delgatty was unavailable as well. That is a lot of talent to play without in a hostile environment.

Dijon Lee

This was supposed to be a rebound game for Dijon Lee. Instead, once Brown went out and Carmelo O’Neal was on the other side, it turned into pitch-and-catch for MacIntyre and Tennessee late in the game. Lee missed a bad tackle when Alabama needed a stop. He simply didn’t show up, and it hasn’t been a good year for him.

Daniel Hill

Daniel Hill put the ball on the ground again, and this one came early and gave Tennessee some life. The Vols didn’t need much help, but they got it anyway.

The wide receivers

With no Coleman-Williams, I expected to see more of Noah Rogers and possibly Cederian Morgan. Instead, the snaps went to Lotty Brooks, Derek Meadows, and Rico Scott, and the group gave Alabama nothing.

The protection held up pretty well for most of the day. Russell took multiple sacks because nobody could get open downfield, not because the offensive line broke down.

Keelon Russell

Russell has to be our final loser. As good as he has been at times, he looked like a first-year starter making his first start inside Neyland Stadium. He had a fumble early, a bad interception, and a turnover to end the game. Against Georgia, he settled in as the game went along. That simply wasn’t the case against Tennessee.

What’s next for the Crimson Tide

This is a game Russell and Alabama will want to forget, but there will be learning lessons in it. Whether those lessons pay off for the Crimson Tide the rest of the way or next year remains to be seen.

Alabama now has its second loss of the year. Hope isn’t completely gone, but the Crimson Tide will probably have to win out. Georgia and Texas both lost as well, making it a rough day for the SEC as a whole and an even rougher one for Alabama.