Tennessee survived its bounce-back game against Florida, but another annual rival that poses a sterner test awaits.

The 11 Vols (5-1, 2-1 SEC), fresh off of beating the Gators in overtime last week, host No. 7 Alabama (5-1, 2-1) at Neyland Stadium on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) with their College Football Playoff hopes intact and in position to bolster their resume.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Tennessee lost to the Crimson Tide last season, squandering a two-score lead at halftime in a 34-20 loss. Alabama returns to Knoxville for the first time since the Vols memorably ended a 15-game losing skid in the series with a 52-49 win in 2022.

Ahead of the 107th edition of the "Third Saturday in October," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer previewed the match up on the SEC Coaches Teleconference.

Here is what they said.

"Another big football game here in Knoxville, Tennessee. A Historical rival, against a great opponent. It's one that everybody in our program points to every single year in our fanbase, obviously. This is a really good football team that we're playing. Play well in all three phases. Got great personnel, good coaching. A huge test for us, but one where we're looking forward to the challenge. We've had a good start to our preparation this week. Obviously, there's some things that we've got to clean up on the offensive side of the football. A lot of it is some things that we can control. But we've had a good start to the week."

"Played a good amount early in the football game (against Florida) and as the game went on, just didn't have the same number of reps that he did early. Mike is somebody that was banged up during the course of training camp and limited a little bit of his development early in the year. We really like what we see out of him. He's a great week of preparation and we anticipate him playing in this one."

"He's somebody that's got unique athletic traits. His strength, speed, power, elusiveness as a runner. He's had that since the beginning. I just think that he's got a really good command and control and understands defensive structure and has gotten his eyes the more time that he's played in the right spot and comfort inside of the pocket. He's still dynamic when he pulls is. But he's pulling it when things don't look right down the football field. He's throwing the football extremely accurately and obviously that's a huge part of what we've got to do defensively, is not let him get all over the football field as a runner. That's quarterback design run, that's read game and when the pocket breaks down. We've got to do a great job on their skill. Extremely talented, playing at a high level. We've got to do a great job of playing those one-on-ones."

"First time I've come across it in my career. I've known Kalen for a long time. He's always done a really good job everywhere that he's been. And certainly doing a good job at Alabama, too. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people in South Dakota watching the game, too."

"I think that's something that the rules committee will definitely take a look at here at the end of the season. The game has evolved. There's multiple things that they have taken a look at and will continue to take a look at. (Oregon head coach) Dan (Lanning) certainly used that situation to his advantage."

"It's not something that we've incorporated here."

"There's different forms of it with different structures. It's something that a lot of offenses will use. At the end of the day, you're always trying to find a way to create momentum and put your guys up in front to be at their best."

For the first time in 17 years, Alabama will have a new head coach roaming the sideline opposite of Tennessee.

After leading Washington to the College Football Playoff and national championship game in 2023, Kalen DeBoer was hired to replace Nick Saban after 16 years of leading the program.

The Crimson Tide dominated the "Third Saturday in October" under Saban, winning 15 of 16 games, including a 15-game win streak in the series that the Vols snapped two years ago.

DeBoer heads into his first Tennessee-Alabama game as a 2.5-point favorite, while Tennessee is looking to try and flip the script in the rivalry with Saban no longer in the picture.

Here is what DeBoer said about facing Tennessee.

"Just got off the field here. Getting preparation in for Tennessee and got a good football team that we're going to be facing this weekend. Big game from a rivalry standpoint. The guys are excited, learning the things that happened each and every week during the course of the game and applying it to how we can get better moving forward. Guys have done a good job so far throughout the week. Attention to detail, situational football. All of those things are things where we continue to be a work in progress."

"There's certainly some carry over. It starts with just tempo. It starts with alignments, and things like that. I think you talk about a couple different types of ways where they want to move the ball, even though a lot of it is revolving around the run game. With South Florida, the quarterback being such a major player with his feet. And Nico (Iamaleava), he's certainly a really athletic guy. But (Tennessee) is handing the ball off more than what South Florida had done and they've got some great speed on the outside. They're letting him sling it around and use his arm. He's got a live arm. They pick and choose their times in situational football where you use Nico in the read game and he's been very successful in those moments of making good decisions. So we've got to be ready for that."

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