It was the Monday after Alabama's victory over Arkansas earlier this month, and Eddie Jackson was annoyed.

The senior safety snapped off a text message to the team's other defensive backs, arranging a meeting in the Mal Moore Athletic Facility. Roughly 48 hours before, the Crimson Tide surrendered 400 passing yards to the Razorbacks quarterback Austin Allen, who had been sacked six times.

"We felt like we were letting the guys up front down," Jackson said.

At the position group powwow, which lasted a matter of minutes, Jackson, safety Ronnie Harrison and cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick were among the members of the secondary who spoke. The general message?

"We have the athletes and the ability," Harrison said. "We just have to practice and communicate more."

Flash forward to Saturday and a cloud of cigar smoke could be seen wafting through the Crimson Tide's locker room. This was a scene of victory. Alabama had dominated Tennessee in a 49-10 victory, holding Josh Dobbs to 92 passing yards.

And for almost 30 minutes after the Crimson Tide put the finishing touches on the win, the smell of lit stogies passed through the tunnel underneath the stands at Neyland Stadium.

Asked how he thought the secondary had played in the game, Jackson smiled and said, "We were satisfied."

Dobbs' longest completion of the day was also his first. It went for 16 yards. From that point forward, Alabama surrendered little.

"They apologized for the performance against Arkansas," defensive end Jonathan Allen said. "We can't put all the blame on them. But they told us they were sorry and they were going to bust their butt and they really busted their butt this week. We could really see it on the field."

Allen and the team's pass rushers did their part to help the defensive backs. They harassed Dobbs from the outset, sacking him once on each of Tennessee's first three possessions. In what Alabama coach Nick Saban called the team's "nickel rabbit defense," Tim Williams and Ryan Anderson rushed Dobbs from the edges and helped contain the elusive senior.

"We have to affect the quarterback all the time," said defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson. "If [Dobbs] had gotten in a rhythm, it would have taken a lot longer for us to slow him down. But we slowed him down early."

Dobbs never looked settled one week after establishing a career-high passing total against Texas A&M, when he threw for 398 yards in a double-overtime loss.

His Saturday afternoon quickly turned into a nightmare after he unleashed an ill-fated screen pass late in the first quarter. Safety Ronnie Harrison read the play and snagged the ball, returning the interception 58 yards for a touchdown to give Alabama a 14-0 lead.

It was Alabama's eighth defensive score this season and it was a part of a performance that earned Alabama coach Nick Saban's praise. Saban was delighted with the stat sheet, which was an ugly mess for the Volunteers. Nine of Tennessee's 16 drives ended in three plays or fewer. The Volunteers converted only 19 percent of their third-down opportunities.

"We didn't play great on defense last week," Saban said, referring to the Arkansas victory. "And I think the competitive character showed today and I think that's part of the reason the guys really bounced back and played well."

Six days after the meeting was held by Alabama's defensive backs, everyone who attended could agree that it had proved a rousing success.

In that tunnel filled with cigar smoke, Harrison said, "We showed today we were a complete secondary."