4 Ridiculous Stats from Alabama’s 10-Game Winning Streak Over Tennessee
The Alabama-Tennessee series has always been a streaky one, but the Third Saturday in October hasn't been anything but crimson since Nick Saban's plane touched down in Tuscaloosa 10 years ago.
When he was hired to take over the Crimson Tide program prior to the 2007 season, Saban inherited a team that had little recent success in rivalry games. Tennessee had just won 10 of the past 12 in the series and the confidence was at an all-time high in Knoxville.
But the tide turned in a hurry.
The first game with Saban on the sideline took place on October 20, 2007. The Vols grabbed a 14-10 lead in the first half but the Tide outscored them 31-3 the rest of the way and hasn't looked back since.
There have been two close games (a two-point win in 2009 and a five-point win in 2015), but that's been the exception rather than the norm. To give you an idea of how lopsided this series has become, we found three ridiculous stats that highlight Alabama's dominance.
- 1
Alabama's margin of victory has been more than 23 points per game
Outside of the tight finishes in 2009 and 2015, there's been little drama in this series. Alabama's biggest win (39 points) came last year in Knoxville and there have been four other 30+ point victories.
During this 10-game winning streak, Alabama's average margin of victory has been 23.2 points per game. To give you some idea of how dominant that is, consider this: Tennessee hasn't scored 21 points total during this entire streak.
- 2
Alabama has more 40-point games in 10 years than Tennesssee has all-time
Beginning with that 41-17 victory in 2007, Alabama has scored at least 40 points in five of the 10 games under Saban. That's the same total of 40-point games Tennessee has in the previous 99 meetings against Alabama.
- 3
Tennessee has led Alabama for fewer than 18 minutes total
It's demoralizing enough to go more than 4,000 days since your last victory in the series, but it's the failure to even be able to take a lead on Alabama that has to be soul-crushing for fans in Knoxville.
During this 10-game winning streak, Tennessee has been ahead on the scoreboard for fewer than 18 minutes total. They've played a total of 600 minutes.
Looking at it even deeper, Tennessee held a second-half lead against Alabama just once in 10 years (2015) and didn't ever have a lead in six of the 10 games.
- 4
20 points is magic number
The Tennessee Vols have managed to score 20 points just once in 10 years (34-20 loss in 2014).
The Alabama Crimson Tide has failed to score 20 points just once in 10 years (19-14 win in 2015).
What does this mean? Well, not a lot, but it does mean that Tennessee's best effort against Nick Saban would have been good enough to only beat Alabama's worst performance of the past decade.