Can a 28-point loss be a moral victory? 

Depends how you look at it.

Tennessee football's 52-24 loss to No. 4 Alabama on Saturday was closer for most of the game than the final score indicated. The Vols led 14-7 after one quarter and trailed just 31-24 early in the fourth quarter.

On the flip side, Tennessee suffered its 15th straight losses to Alabama, and none of the last six results in this series have been closer to 22 points.

On this edition of "The Volunteer State," Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY Network and the News Sentinel's John Adams and Adam Sparks evaluate Tennessee's performance and debate whether it qualifies as a moral victory.

Stay connected on Twitter with Blake (@btoppmeyer) Adam (@AdamSparks) and John (@JohnAdamsKNS) and stay up to date on Vols sports news by following @GoVolsXtra.

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