Let’s get right to it.

Welcome back to the Sunday rewatch of Alabama’s previous-day game. You know what happened. Tennessee won, 52-49. Goalposts broke.

Here are my observations from a few hours of DVR recording.

— Made a note of it when it happened, but the opening kickoff blocking flag was an ominous sign for what was to come. The 17 penalties Saturday broke the program record of 16 set in 1995 against Georgia and tied in 2002 against MTSU.

— And before we get much further, there were some clear issues with officiating. My email and social media is overflowing with complaints and I get it. But do I think the referees were the cause of Alabama’s loss? No. You can’t allow touchdown passes of 36, 60 and 78 yards, touch a bouncing punt and commit the number of unquestioned penalties and make this about officiating. We’ll get into that more as we go.

— For context, this felt a lot like the Texas A&M loss last year. Alabama fell behind big early when everything went wrong. A big offensive comeback gave the Tide a late lead — which is where these stories typically end. But like the Aggies, Tennessee tied it late, made a defensive stop and won the game on a last-second field goal. Almost a mirror script.

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— Field position was decidedly in Tennessee’s favor most of the day. Alabama opened inside the 20 on three of the first five possessions while Tennessee’s first four touchdowns came on drives of 56, 75, 35 and 40 yards.

— A stat of note that was felt immediately. The Vols were credited with nine QB hurries. Alabama had none. And while it’s a subjective and unofficial stat, the naked eye would tell you the Tide rarely put heat on Hendon Hooker as he surveyed/picked apart the secondary. This was an Alabama pass rush that recorded 12 QB hurries last week. Bryce Young was hit as he threw on the opening third-down pass of the night and again on the final third-down pass.

— On second thought, Alabama had at least one undeniable hurry that wasn’t counted. The lone interception came in the third quarter when the Cheetah package pressured Hooker into the ball picked off by DeMarcco Hellams.

— We’re getting ahead of ourselves already. The first three Tennessee offensive drives were offensive efficiency defined. They ran 16 plays in that stretch, only one stopped at the line of scrimmage or for a one-yard gain. Everything moved forward, not a single second was wasted. The script was perfect and the overall plan exposed weaknesses in the Alabama secondary.

— Saban thoughts on Tennessee’s game plan/Alabama’s response: “I don’t think the no-huddle offense was the issue for us. I think it was covering their receivers and allowing way too may big plays. They created a lot of mismatches. We were trying to play nickel so they were trying to get their best receivers on safeties and they did it a couple of times and we gave up big plays. We started dropping eight guys. That helped us in the second quarter.”

— Allowing 567 offensive yards was brutal for a defense that had been stingy all season. What was surprising to me was Tennessee’s ability to run up the middle as Jaylen Wright ran 12 times for 71 yards followed by Jabari Small’s 12 runs and 53 yards. The Vols finished with 182 rushing yards with an average of 4.7 a pop.

— The 567 yards allowed were the most for a Tide defense since Ole Miss rolled up 647 in 2020 when Alabama won 63-48. The 385 passing yards were the most since Florida had 408 in the 2020 SEC title game Alabama won, 52-46.

— Of note, Alabama had 569 offensive yards — 2 more than the Vols. The 455 passing yards for Bryce Young were the most for Alabama since he broke the school record with 559 last year against Arkansas.

— Let’s talk a little about Young’s performance. He showed no sign of the shoulder injury that consumed headlines for two solid weeks entering Saturday. The 52 attempts were the second most of his career, behind only the 57 from January’s title game loss to Georgia.

— Young was accurate with good zip and touch all afternoon. He had a few huge throws on the second possession that helped keep things from getting out of hand early. First, a third-and-long throw to Ja’Corey Brooks went for 27 yards. Three snaps later, he dropped one in the bucket to a well-defended Isaiah Bond for 33 yards.

— Young had nine passes of 20-plus yards with nine receivers distributing the 35 catches. Kobe Prentice had a team-high nine receptions for 66 yards while Cameron Latu impressed with his route running and strong hands. He had six catches for 90 yards and a touchdown. He’s really come a long way from being a reserve outside linebacker to a threat in the passing game.

— Gibbs looked surprised nobody was there to challenge on his 8-yard TD run to tie the game. He ran it 24 times for 103 yards and three scores while catching five passes for 48 yards.

— The way Tennessee spreads the offense from sideline to sideline really forces defenses to make difficult decisions in coverage. The Vols often made quick motions just before the snap that appeared to give Alabama last-second decisions that led to a few of the bigger plays.

— Alabama allowed 13 passes of 20-plus yards in the first six games and five against UT.

— Alabama had not allowed a pass of 50-plus yards in six games. UT had 2.

— A second first-quarter kickoff return resulted in another blocking flag that set up perhaps one of the worst offensive possessions physically possible. Starting at the 14 and ending at the 2, Alabama was flagged three more times before a punt. There was a dropped shotgun snap by Young, a dropped pass by Traeshon Holden and a near safety as Young was hit throwing on third down in the end zone. That was bad. It would get way worse before turning around.

— Jalin Hyatt was a nightmare all day with five of his six catches going for touchdowns. Repeated Saban’s quote from above, the Vols did a nice job getting Hyatt paired up with safeties as Hellams appeared to be on Hyatt on most of his big plays.

— Alabama’s offense found a groove after the disastrous drive that ended with the short punt from the end zone. It would score on the next five possessions but twice had to settle for field goals on once-promising drives. Every point mattered Saturday. Alabama was 6-for-13 on third downs.

— The real low point (besides the obvious) came in the second quarter. The spiral was consuming Alabama when reserve linebacker Quandarrius Robinson touched a bouncing punt to give the Vols the ball back. It followed the Tide’s first defensive stop of the game, a 3-and-out after allowing three straight touchdowns. Finally something positive on defense and an unforced special teams blunder sent Saban into a rage for the books. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” was the best guess at lip reading.

— Kool-Aid McKinstry didn’t get a punt return attempt at Tennessee after seeing just one attempt against Texas A&M. The muffed punt by Robinson was the only punt for the Vols all day.

— Of course the Vols didn’t waste a short field with a 31-yard pass on the next play. Alabama gave up several big plays a week ago on quick-change situations after turnovers against Texas A&M and the Vols picked up right where they left off. Two plays later, 28-10 and this was in danger of a rout. Fant bullied his way into the end zone for the fourth touchdown as the beating came not just in the secondary but in the trenches.

— Alabama did more chipping away at Tennessee’s defense compared to the Vols’ big-chunk plan. The Tide averaged 13 yards per catch while the Vols got 18.3.

— The wide receiver screen is hit and miss but splitting TE Latu out wide to be the blocker resulted in a big first down In a second-quarter TD drive. Young’s across-the-body scoring throw to Brooks was on the list of impressive ball placement from the Heisman winner.

— Tennessee faced just 10 third downs and its efficiency on first down helps explain why. The Vols averaged 12.2 yards on first-down plays (Alabama averaged 5.8). They got 6.3 yards per first-down run, which helped start the engine for one of the fasted offenses I’ve seen.

— How fast? After Hooker was sacked in the second quarter, the Vols were back and ready to snap it with just 10 seconds off the play clock. A hurry-up after a negative play just isn’t something I remember seeing outside of an end-of-half situation. DJ Dale was celebrating the first and only Alabama sack of the day when you could hear coaches shouting to get lined up.

— When we’re talking about questionable calls, the no-targeting decision with 1:28 left before halftime ranks near the top. The fact it was booth initiated and the face-mask-to-face-mask hit seemed to make it a no-brainer. Instead of going half-the-distance to the 10-yard line, Alabama lost five yards on second down and an incomplete pass on third down led to the field goal.

— It’s also worth noting Young had Kendrick Law open in the end zone on the no-targeting play but the throw came a few beats too late and the window closed. You couldn’t see that on the broadcast but was visible from the press box.

— A 28-20 halftime deficit wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been but that was just the warmup for what would be a bonkers second half.

— An Alabama defensive stop to open the second half came with one of the strangest officiating moments in memory. The crew needed a few minutes and video review to confirm a fourth-down stop was in fact fourth down? It was a great open-field stop lost in the weirdness of confusion counting to four. Branch stood up the TE Jacob Warren a yard short of the sticks.

— Three plays later, this game was tied. A 36-yard strike to Jermaine Burton was an excellent catch from the Georgia transfer. He had two catches for 49 yards Saturday. Gibbs’ patience and an open-field move left him untouched for the 26-yard touchdown paired with a two-point throw to Brooks.

— Hellams was the victim of a little out-and-up from Hyatt on the 60-yard TD two plays after Alabama tied it. Another example of Tennessee spreading it out, getting the top receiver paired with a safety and no additional help to restart the track meet.

— The missed PAT that followed would be a factor the rest of the way, hardly a precursor for a game-winning 40-yard FG.

— Alabama scoring drives averaged 9 plays. Tennessee’s averaged 5. There were four Vol scoring strikes of four or fewer plays.

— Young hit Burton for 13 yards on a second-and-10 scramble but it looked a little weird and might exemplify some of the scramble-play issues Alabama’s had. Burton caught it standing directly next to fellow WR Bond. The fact both were open was even more of an indictment on the Vol secondary who didn’t take advantage of a backyard play that almost caused friendly fire.

— Another bizarre series came when Alabama took the 35-34 lead. A third-and-goal touchdown run was negated by a holding flag. Then a delay of game pushed it back to third-and-16 when Tennessee was flagged for a questionable pass interference call in the end zone. Gibbs did his thing from the two-yard line and the Tide had its first lead of the day with 19:27 to play.

— Alabama had six delay-of-game or false start flags among their 17. “I thought the offense handled the crowd noise extremely well,” Saban said. “We were able to go on the clap and the motion penalties that we had, a couple of them had nothing to do with … a guy moved with no clap. No nothing. Just, I don’t know why. But I think we handled the noise extremely well and they had a great crowd.”

— Will Anderson’s name wasn’t called often but his pressure helped force Hooker’s first interception of the season. Dallas Turner came from the other side as Anderson just bullied the tackle straight into Hooker’s passing lane.

— Alabama had the Vols in trouble for the first time up 35-34, crossing the 50 with a 20-yard pass to Holden and five straight scoring drives in the rearview. But a third-and-eight play from the 38 moved back five when Latu jumped early. The three-yard throw to Prentice ended the scoring streak and missed a big opportunity to push UT to the brink at the end of three quarters.

— James Burnip had another nice day with a punt that pushed the Vols to the 6 to open the fourth. He punted three times for an average of 38.3 and a long of 48.

— The 78-yard touchdown catch from Hyatt that quickly followed was the longest passing play Alabama’s allowed since the 2020 season. Again, the safeties were targeted for Hyatt’s fourth TD catch in four total receptions. He finished with six catches and five touchdowns, a Vol record.

— The multiple speeds of Gibbs were on perfect display on the 30-yard dump down where he made another DB look silly with the hitch in his step. Then JoJo Earle’s only catch came on 2nd-and-24 after a big sack. That went for 42-yards in the scramble to tie the game as it reached the 10-minute mark.

— Alabama was 3-for-8 on fourth down before converting with a 1-yard pass to Latu. Young appeared to be taking off to run but stopped when the defenders left Latu unattended. It was 42-42 with 8:38 left.

— The wild scene went dead quiet moments later when Turner scooped a gifted fumble 11 yards for a stunning 49-42 lead. In the past 15 years, that would’ve doomed the Vols as hometown optimism shifts to impending doom. But the only long march of the day, 11 plays and 75 yards, tied the game and set up the crazy final sequence.

— A 3rd-and-6 play with 6:34 left was one of those game-changing moments but Brian Branch was called for pass interference on an incomplete pass that would’ve forced a punt. Another 3rd-and-5 went straight up the middle for 11 yards on a run from Wright.

— Alabama was 6-for-6 in red zone scoring opportunities. Tennessee was 4-for-4 with touchdowns on each.

— It looked like the Tide had the game-clincher on a fourth-down stop when McKinstry intercepted a pass with under four minutes to play. After a conference, Malachi Moore was flagged for pass interference. Saban was asked about the flag afterward. “It’s hard to say when it’s down in the corner,” he said. “I thought the guy made a good swat on the ball and we intercepted the tipped ball. We had another on third and six when we had good coverage on the guy. I think pass interference is one of the most controversial calls in college football right now. I’ve talked about it before but inconsistencies in how its gets called — not just one those calls but in all calls. Officials do the best they can and I’m not making negative comments.”

— Tennessee scored on the next play and it was tied again, 49-49.

— Alabama’s shot for a game-winning kick came up short after reaching the Vol 32 on a big third-down throw from Young to Brooks for 18 yards. Three straight incomplete passes later left Reichard to attempt he 50-yarder. Saban addressed the late-game play calling in this story.

— And Saban didn’t love the coverage he called “soft” that allowed Tennessee to complete passes of 18 and 27 yards in 13 seconds to set up the game-winning kick.

— Forty-yard kicks don’t get uglier, but knuckleballs count. Tennessee wins.

Michael Casagrande is a very tired reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook but he might be sleeping for the next 15 hours.