One of college football’s most storied rivalries will be renewed on Saturday. It’s the Third Saturday in October, meaning Alabama and Tennessee will have their cigars ready – and the offensive player projections are set, according to PrizePicks.
The offenses are sure to be on full display when the two teams square off at Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Jalen Milroe and Nico Iamaleava are both coming off grind-it-out victories a week ago, and will now prepare for the intensity of a rivalry affair on Rocky Top.
For Tennessee, the running game has seen plenty of success this year. Dylan Sampson enters Week 8 with 116.5 rushing yards per game, which ranks ninth in the nation. He’s also coming off back-to-back 100-yard performances, giving him plenty of momentum.
As for Alabama, the Crimson Tide’s leading receiver is electric freshman Ryan Williams. He enters the matchup against Tennessee with 576 yards through the first six games of his college career, making him a weapon to watch in Saturday afternoon’s affair.
Alabama and Tennessee will square off Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET on ABC. Here are the full offensive player projections for the game, according to PrizePicks.
Pass Yards: 232.5
Rush Yards: 48.5
Interceptions: 0.5
Jalen Milroe continues to be one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation entering Week 8. He heads into the Tennessee matchup with 1,483 passing yards, 319 rushing yards and 23 total touchdowns through six games.
Pass Yards: 198.5
Rush Yards: 19.5
Through his first six games as Tennessee’s starter, Nico Iamaleava is averaging just over 203 passing yards as the Vols lean into the running game. His projection for Saturday’s game against Alabama is set at 198.5, according to PrizePicks, along with 19.5 rush yards.
Receiving Yards: 68.5
Receptions: 4.5
The 17-year-old Ryan Williams continues to take college football by storm as a true freshman. His big-play ability makes him a top threat for Alabama, and his projection for the Tennessee matchup is set at 68.5 receiving yards, according to PrizePicks.
Rush Yards: 98.5
Receiving Yards: 11.5
Dylan Sampson continues to cement himself as one of the top running backs in the nation this year after yet another 100-yard performance. He ran for 112 yards and three touchdowns, including the walk-off winner in overtime to defeat Florida in Week 7.
Receiving Yards: 53.5
Receptions: 4
After shining under Kalen DeBoer at Washington last year, Germie Bernard is making a similar impact at Alabama as one of Jalen Milroe’s top targets. He ranks second on the Crimson Tide with 309 receiving yards and is coming off his biggest game yet with 89 yards against South Carolina last week.
Receiving Yards: 39.5
Nico Iamaleava’s top target this year, Squirrel White leads Tennessee in receptions and is second on the team in receiving yards. He had a huge game against Florida, totaling five receptions for 71 yards to lead the Vols, and PrizePicks sets his projection at 39.5 yards against Alabama on Saturday.
Rush Yards: 41.5
Receiving Yards: 10.5
The leader in the Alabama running backs room, Jam Miller enters Week 8 as the Crimson Tide’s leading rusher with 360 yards. While Jalen Milroe has taken more carries, Miller gets most of the work in the backfield and led the way with 42 yards against South Carolina last week.
Receiving Yards: 34.5
Receptions: 3
Ranking second on Tennessee in receptions, Chris Brazzell was the Volunteers’ second-leading receiver last week against Florida. He had 49 yards in the overtime victory, and his projection against Alabama is set at 34.5, according to PrizePicks.
Rush Yards: 29.5
Sitting behind Jam Miller, Justice Haynes is Alabama’s third-leading rusher this season with 249 yards entering Week 8. He rounds out the three-headed monster in the running game with Miller and Jalen Milroe, but still plays an important role in throwing different looks at opposing defenses.
Receiving Yards: 22.5
Bru McCoy is keeping pace with Chris Brazzell on Tennessee’s receiving yards list entering the Alabama game. He has 209 yards on 14 receptions, and PrizePicks sets his receiving yards projection at 22.5 on Saturday.
Receiving Yards: 22.5
While not as much of a vertical threat as Alabama’s receivers, CJ Dippre has been a good safety blanket for Jalen Milroe as the receiver corps gets healthy. He enters Week 8 with 10 receptions for 121 yards, showing the role he plays in Kalen DeBoer’s offense through the first part of the year.
Alabama and Tennessee will meet for the 106th time on Saturday, and the 32nd straight Third Saturday in October. It’s one of the SEC’s biggest rivalries – and cigar smoke is sure to flow, one way or another, when the clock hits zeroes.
NORMAN, Oklahoma — The stage was set for Oklahoma. Heck, the Sooners earned the right to set it. This was supposed to be the ushering in of a new era of postseason football for the No. 8 team in the country that had won 10 games in what was one of the toughest schedules this year.
No. 9 Alabama was even one of those teams that Oklahoma beat on its way to earning this spot. And Saturday night, all was going well for the Sooners. It was going so well, in fact, that after the first quarter, some Oklahoma fans might’ve peeked at flights and hotel rates for the Rose Bowl from inside Memorial Stadium.
And then the Alabama Crimson Tide curled and rolled the Sooners, 34-24, and are headed to Pasadena. After opening with 17 unanswered points, Oklahoma collapsed under the weight of that wave, becoming the only team in College Football Playoff history to blow a 17-point lead. And now, the Sooners have done it twice — before Saturday, in 2018 against Georgia.
[Best Teams in the College Football Playoff Era: Creating the Ultimate 12-team CFP]
Here are my takeaways from Alabama’s College Football Playoff first-round victory against Oklahoma on Saturday:
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Zabien Brown #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide stiff-arms John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter during the 2025 College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is an avid reader and listener of college football news. Following the largest comeback win in Alabama postseason history, Simpson took a moment to facetiously thank media members for choosing Oklahoma to win on Saturday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” an emboldened Simpson said. “You guys kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. So I appreciate that.”
After building a three-score lead, the Sooners watched the Crimson Tide recover a fumbled punt, pick off Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and return it 50 yards to the end zone — all before their First Team All-American kicker Tate Sandell missed not one but two field goals in the final minutes to solidify the worst collapse in College Football Playoff history.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide will prepare to take on No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl for the CFP quarterfinal game. This team that punches back and played its best football with its back against the wall is one that the Hoosiers must prepare for on New Year’s Day.
[College Football Playoff Predictions: First-Round Winners to The National Champion]
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners is hit by Deontae Lawson #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter during the College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide began down — just like they did against Georgia in the SEC championship game. But the last three quarters of Saturday’s game demonstrated Alabama to be just who it says it is: the kind of team that can open with a loss to a bad Florida State and also be the first team in six years to walk into Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and come out with a win.
DeBoer’s task now is to find a way to make certain that the team that showed up at Georgia earlier this season and at Oklahoma in the first round is the same one against the Hoosiers. Linebacker Deontae Lawson said that’s his job too. But Bama’s best trait isn’t one that shows itself until it’s in a fight for its life.
“Man, I just think we’re a resilient team,” Lawson said. “And even though we were down 17-0, we didn’t really look at the scoreboard. Coach DeBoer always says, ‘Keep playing the game. The game will come back to you.’ … We just keep fighting.”
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners speaks to an official during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Let’s look at the bigger ones:
These are blunders. Errors that aren’t forced but self-inflicted. It’s difficult to win any game with those kinds of mistakes on your drive chart. It’s nearly impossible in a game of this magnitude, against a team as talented and as resilient as the Crimson Tide.
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Keon Keeley #31 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff first-round game. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oklahoma usually plays 50 Cent’s “Many Men” before the start of the fourth quarter. In an attempt to make a statement for its first CFP game at Owen Field, the Sooners brought the rapper himself out onto the field to perform the song for fans in a Hard to Kill Hoodie.
“I didn’t know it was live,” DeBoer said.
“I didn’t know who 50 Cent was,” Simpson said, “but I know that song.”
“We play that song at practice on Fridays,” Lawson said.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
Hello college football fans, and welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of the 2025 College Football Playoff!
Yes, after a 2025 season full of an incredible amount of twists, turns, controversy and pure chaos, the second edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff gets underway tonight. Our opening matchup is a battle of blue-bloods whose first meeting this season contributed to that chaos, as No. 9 Alabama takes on No. 8 Oklahoma in Norman.
Follow along for live pregame build-up and the latest news, play-by-play updates and real-time analysis from The Athletic’s college football staff!
The College Football Playoff gets underway Friday night as Alabama heads to Norman to take on Oklahoma. But to ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, there’s even more at stake for Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer.
DeBoer’s name has been the subject of rumors throughout the offseason in the coaching carousel. Most recently, he received questions about the opening at Michigan following Sherrone Moore’s firing for cause, though he made it clear he intends to be at Alabama in 2026.
However, Wilbon didn’t sound as convinced. He predicted Alabama would not only lose to Oklahoma on Friday night, but DeBoer would also be on a flight to Ann Arbor to take the Michigan job afterward.
“Let me tell you about … two schools that could be in the coaching carousel after [Friday night],” Wilbon said Thursday on Pardon The Interruption. “Because when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – let me say it again, when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – the coach of Alabama, half the people in the state will want to run him out. And he’ll be on the carousel – oh, wait, that’s a G5 being flown to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he has said, ‘Oh, no. I ain’t got no interest in that.’ He’ll have interest [Friday night].
“And then, Alabama will be in the coaching carousel because they’ll be looking for a coach. … The Alabama coach is going to have a job-on-the-line situation in 24 hours and then, headed to Michigan once he loses. And then, Alabama’s looking. Then, what are you going to say?”
During a press conference this week ahead of the College Football Playoff opener, Kalen DeBoer was directly asked if he intended to be Alabama’s head coach next season. He responded, “Yes.”
Earlier in that press conference, DeBoer received a question about the rumors surrounding him. He again spoke highly of his tenure at Alabama so far and made it clear he’s happy in Tuscaloosa.
“A lot of the same things I said before, a couple weeks ago, when asked really the same question, just feel completely supported,” DeBoer said. “My family loves living here. Just all the things that we continue to build on, love the progress. Haven’t talked with anyone, no plans of talking with anyone. So just, I think that’s a lot of what I said a couple weeks ago, and continues to be the same thing.
“Feel strong about it. And our guys, if there’s been any distraction, I haven’t seen it, haven’t felt it. I’m really proud of the way they’ve handled whatever noise is out there. And again, we probably all season long, have dealt with enough noise to where it wouldn’t surprise me on how they handle this.”
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