Kalen DeBoer During Monday’s Presser

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - It's the month of Halloween, but something even scarier is on the horizon. The third Saturday of the month marks the highly anticipated Alabama and Tennessee rivalry game.

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Set for Oct. 19, this clash will be the 107th meeting between the two teams, a rivalry that dates back to their first encounter in 1901. The Tide currently leads the series with a record of 60 wins out of 106 meetings. However, a new era of college football is unfolding. Contributing to this new era, recent matchups have seen the Tide's 17-year winning streak come to an end at the hands of the Volunteers in Knoxville in 2022, followed by a hard-fought victory for Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2023.

With a new coaching staff, the Tide is focused on maintaining the Alabama Standard, which emphasizes dominance over key rivals. This week is crucial for the team as Kalen DeBoer and his staff work to establish their approach.

During Monday's press conference, DeBoer acknowledge the intensity of the rivalry and why it calls for much preparation. "We continue to learn and get better from the things that happen on a Saturday. There's a lot of highlights, but they're things we got to continue to clean up. Moving on to Tennessee, we're really looking forward to it and this game is a big deal to us and our fans. We're looking for a high-level week of preparation and a big game on Saturday," said DeBoer during his opening statement.

The Tide has faced challenges in their last two games, with fans and analysts believing they should have easily defeated Vanderbilt and South Carolina. Moving forward, DeBoer emphasized the importance of each game, "As a coach all games on the schedule are big in different ways. I certainly understand the significance of the rivalry, and the guys are going to be very motivated to go out and do their best and prepare well for Saturday," said DeBoer.

Alabama's offense has shown significant improvement and has been able to make big plays with minor mistakes, while the defense has struggled but continues to critique their play. "Every week something new presents itself. I know the last couple of weeks the biggest thing that's been focused on is getting off the field. When those drives continue to stack on top of each other, there's more plays that your defense has to play and it starts to wear you down. Fortunately, we can rotate guys in to hang on for four quarters, but there's always going to be little elements in areas that are going to pop up. You continue to work on the things that you know you need to get better at," said DeBoer regarding the defense.

As the Tide prepares to face the Volunteers on Saturday, the stakes are high. The tradition dictates that the winner of this rivalry lights cigars and fills the stadium with smoke, "I know that this tradition goes back and traditions are apart of it, but what I'm trying to do is make sure we do our part as a football program and prepare so that people can celebrate and enjoy the rivalry," said DeBoer regarding whether he will celebrate with a cigar.

The game is scheduled for Oct. 19 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, kicking off at 2:30 p.m. CT.