The Tennessee Vols will have a hidden advantage in big game against the Alabama Crimson Tide

The Tennessee Vols are set to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday in a battle between two one-loss teams.

Tennessee and Alabama both suffered upset losses earlier this month on the same day, with the Vols losing to Arkansas and the Crimson Tide losing to Vanderbilt.

Despite the losses, both programs still control their own destiny when it comes to reaching the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Tennessee has the talent and the competitive makeup to beat the Tide, but it obviously won't be easy. This will be a heavyweight bout that will undoubtedly be an intense battle for a full four quarters.

Fortunately for the Vols, they'll have a bit of a "hidden advantage" in the game.

That's because Tennessee linebackers coach William Inge, who replaced Brian Jean-Mary at UT earlier this year (Jean-Mary left for Michigan), is quite familiar with Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer's offense.

Inge spent five seasons working alongside DeBoer. In 2019, Inge was the special teams coordinator at Indiana when DeBoer's was the Hoosiers' offensive coordinator. When DeBoer was named the head coach at Fresno State in 2020, Inge followed him to California to serve as the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator.

In 2022, when DeBoer took over as the head coach at Washington, he again brought Inge along with him (Inge was the Huskies' co-defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023).

Inge obviously has some unique insight into DeBoer's offense. And that insight should certainly help the Vols' prepare for a different-looking Alabama offense than what Tennessee faced last few seasons when Saban was leading the program.

How much will this advantage help the Vols?

It's impossible to know. But it's better than having no insight at all into the inner-workings of Alabama's offense under DeBoer (Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables' familiarity with Josh Heupel certainly seemed to help the Sooners defend the Vols' offense last month as did Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman's familiarity with Heupel's style of offense).

And in the SEC, even the smallest advantage can swing a game.

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