Tennessee Volunteers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide Preview: Can the Volunteers Win?

Tennessee Volunteers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS

It's not hard to see what the narrative is going to be headed into this game. Tennessee has looked more impressive by the week, and it's a rivalry game. Alabama could be looking forward to the bye week, and the looming game against LSU after that. IT'S A TRAP GAME, Y'ALL. ALABAMA'S IN TROUBLE.

As with many of the storylines pushed by those who would rather you tune into the game than tune it out, it's best to take those portrayals of the season so far and this game in particular with a grain of salt. Tennessee has looked better of late, but it was able to take Georgia to the wire because of injuries and beat South Carolina because the Gamecocks once again took part of the game off. Both of those results are better than losing at Oregon by seven scores, but they're not the stuff that leads to an upset against the No. 1 team in the land.

Instead, it's the kind of thing that might make this game marginally interesting for a quarter or two before Alabama proceeds to do what it normally does against SEC opponents: Slowly draining the life out of them and the game until you wonder why anyone thought Tennessee could make it a game. The Tide's just too good for Tennessee to have a chance.

Alabama 40, Tennessee 13