Alabama Vs. Tennessee 2009 Game Important for Tide

The Alabama vs. Tennessee 2009 game is a must win for Alabama. Normally the Alabama vs. Tennessee game is important anyways, but the Crimson Tide have to really prove themselves on Saturday. They aren't just playing this game to remain undefeated on the season, but to show that they are deserving of the #1 ranking they were given in the last AP Top 25 college football poll. Voters turned away from Florida when the Gators had a couple of struggles, and even though Florida still remained undefeated, it gave the Alabama voters a bit of an advantage going into the week.

Now Tennessee has to go into Alabama against a team that is very hungry for a win, in a match-up that is also going to be extremely important for the Volunteers to win. The Tennessee Volunteers sit at 3-3 on the season, and in the tough SEC every game counts in the standings. They already had a couple of very tough losses to UCLA and Auburn, and they looked pretty good against Florida as well. That has to have the Crimson Tide a bit worried, because Tennessee also knocked of Georgia last week, and is still holding out hopes for a higher level bowl game if they can upset Alabama this week and South Carolina next week.

Alabama needs this win to move to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the SEC this season. With all that being said, they still have to play LSU next week in a game that could be key in deciding the SEC West, and then they have to end the regular season against a hungry Auburn team that would like nothing better than to knock off Alabama. With the tough schedule on the horizon, Alabama has to take care of business on Saturday and head into those games with zero losses still on their record. If they can't do that, they could be putting themselves at risk of playing right out of a big BCS bowl opportunity.

Watch for running back Mark Ingram to have a big game against Tennessee, and if he can carry the team on his back for another week, he is going to head right to the top of the list for Heisman Trophy candidates this season. The game is being shown live on CBS, and expect this SEC game to be extremely hard fought all the way to the fourth quarter. When the smoke clears, one of these teams will have a different destiny in store for the 2009 college football post season.

Sources:

SEC Standings

Heisman Trophy Candidates