Alabama football is looking to avenge the first of its 2022 losses this weekend. The No. 11 Crimson Tide will welcome No. 17 Tennessee into Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The Volunteers (5-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) broke a 15-year losing streak against UA last fall and will look to establish its own run this Saturday on CBS at 2:30 p.m. CT. Alabama (6-1, 4-0) is attempting to continue a stretch of explosive offense and smothering defense. On Wednesday night, Nick Saban took questions from reporters one last time before kickoff.

— “I think success can be defined by how consistent you can be,” Saban started by saying. Saban said the team is striving for the communication and preparation needed to maintain its consistency.

“It’s a big part of preparation, and you have to invest a lot of time. The other part of that is relationships and caring enough to communicate, because you’re confident in what you’re doing because you have the knowledge, and now you communicate it. The relationships that you have with other people on the team can actually help you feel good about communicating, and that helps everybody play smarter. That helps everybody play better. I guess that’s what you continue to strive for — for players, for your team, for individuals — so we can get the kind of consistency in performance that will help us be successful. That’s a challenge every week. It’s a challenge every day. Hopefully, people are motivated to do that and are doing the best they can to make the progress we need to make to try to improve.”

–Saban said Malachi Moore and CJ Dippre have both practiced this week after either missing the Arkansas game entirely or leaving it early. Alabama is optimistic that both can continue to progress, but Saban said its too early in the week to determine game status.

–Saban said that Alabama’s offseason fourth-quarter training program can add a mental benefit to pushing through the second halves of games. Alabama is in the grinding portion of the season, Saban noted, and the team has been slightly worn down with eight straight weeks of games.

–Offensive lineman Terrence Ferguson is “closer to 100%” after suffering a high-ankle sprain earlier this season.

–Saban was asked about offenses turning to tempo to establish a rhythm and Saban said while that’s suitable, that doesn’t prevent the need to focus on details.

–Saban is asked about a comment from Terrion Arnold that said freshman safety Caleb Downs shares a couple of personality traits with Saban.

“Well, you can ask Terrion what his opinion is about a lot of things. I like Terrion, he’s got a great personality. I don’t evaluate the personalities of the players in the room,” Saban joked before again commending Downs’ preparation and impact.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].