Tim Tebow reveals what Tennessee must do to upset Alabama at home

After finally getting over the Alabama hump last season, Tennessee heads to Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday looking for a second straight victory over the Crimson Tide.

Tim Tebow explained on The Paul Finebaum Show that another Volunteers win will start with the team’s defense coming to play against Jalen Milroe and the Alabama offense.

“It’s a massive game for both teams,” Tebow said. “I think Tennessee has been improving every single week in so many different ways. It really starts defensively. They’ve been getting after the passer. They’re playing better in the secondary, but man they’re making it really tough for opposing quarterbacks. That has to be a key in this game because their offense, although it is improving, it’s still not the what they want. It’s not the explosive offense of last year. So to stay in this game for Tennessee, you gotta get after Jalen Milroe, you got to make things hard and their defense has to show up.”

Roman Harper agreed that it will be the defense that gets things going for Tennessee because of how inconsistent the offense has been compared to last season. Joe Milton has not reached the level of play Hendon Hooker did the previous two seasons and the Volunteers offense has struggled to adjust.

But the defense has stepped up in a major in recent games, including in their previous win over Texas A&M. The Aggies had only 277 yards, including just 54 on the ground, as the Texas A&M offense went just 5 of 15 on third down plays.

“We can’t sit up here and say, ‘Oh, this is gonna be the week where Joe Milton just airs it out and makes all these plays when you haven’t seen that yet this year,'” Harper said. “It’s going to be based upon the run game, and that starts with the defense that allows them to stay locked in and keep this game closer because they’re playing such great defense like they did versus Texas A&M. For Tennessee’s defense, it all starts up front. These guys that they have up there are really, really good at rushing after the passer. You need to stay in third and manageable so then you can at least have the threat of running the football because if they know you’re just gonna pass it and you’re one dimensional that’s when they get really, really nasty up front.”