After Texas A&M opened the game with a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, Alabama began their first offensive possession of Saturday's eventual win in College Station on their own 27-yard line. Ten plays and 73 yards later, it was 7-7. Remarkably, that drive lowered Alabama's scoring efficiency this season.
Alabama entered the game scoring an average of 0.764 points per play, second nationally behind Oklahoma (0.767). After scoring 47 points on 67 offensive plays in the 19-point win over Texas A&M, Alabama's efficiency dropped to 0.756, which ranks first after Oklahoma tumbled in their win over Texas. Oklahoma led the nation in points per play last year (0.716) and were the first team since Florida State — who averaged a record 0.749 points per play in 2014 (0.749) — average more than 0.7 points per play. Hawai'i is the only other team to average 0.7 in the last 15 seasons (0.703 in 2006).
"I was thinking about there's a high school team over in Arkansas, they always onside kick, they never punt," said Jeremy Pruitt, whose Tennessee team visits Alabama in Week 8, when asked about a defensive strategy vs. the Crimson Tide. "I've never seen them play, [but] I always hear people talk about it. In fact, I think they played one of the high school teams here in our state this year, somebody was talking about it. So, we really kind of considered that as our game plan. Just don't give them the ball, if we can do that."
FBS Rankings: No. 1 to No. 130
Tennessee's defense ranks 91st nationally in points per play (0.439), the worst FBS unit Alabama will face in their final six regular-season games. Two other teams rank among the worst in the Power Five (Arkansas is 79th, and Mississippi State is 81st), and they'll also face FCS Western Carolina.
If Alabama keeps pace, or even dips more than one full point, it'd be their second straight season averaging at last 0.6 points per game. They've never had consecutive seasons at or above 0.6.
