I think the issue is that the Alabama defense isn't bad, it is still one of the better defenses in the nation, but it has lost that dominant edge it had in Saban's heyday. Alabama's defense used to resemble Georgia's defense. Watch both teams and you can clearly see one defense is better and that should worry Saban.
Alabama's run game and offensive line has really struggled this year as well. That has probably caused even more problems than the defense with Alabama's losses.
I also want to note something:
Although Georgia played very well against Tennessee, Tennessee's offense laid an egg against Georgia. They were clearly a very different offense than the one that played against Alabama where Tennessee seemed to hit all the long passes while they couldn't buy one against Georgia because of overthrows, etc. I do think Georgia's defense got pressure on Hooker but I really didn't see that much pressure in 1Q with the two overthrows, I think that was Tennessee just playing nervous (not ready for spot light) effect. There was 14 points that were there had two of those overthrows connected to Hyatt and Fant.
In summary, Georgia has a better defense but I don't think it is leaps and bounds better like people would think if they watched both matchups vs. Tennessee.
