On the Third Saturday in October, Vols fans who walked into Saloon 16 in Knoxville got a game-day surprise. Peyton Manning, the most famous quarterback Tennessee ever produced, was performing a country song in the bar that carries his old jersey number. Standing beside him was Riley Green, an Alabama native, singing for the other side.
The song was “Alabama Vs. Tennessee,” a rivalry duet the two had released only five days earlier. On the one day of the year when Alabama and Tennessee fans are least likely to agree on anything, the two of them sang it together.
A bar named for No. 16
Saloon 16 sits inside the Graduate Knoxville hotel on Cumberland Avenue, right at the edge of the University of Tennessee campus. Manning opened it with an investment group, and the name is a tribute to the No. 16 he wore as the Vols’ quarterback from 1994 to 1997.
That is what made the moment stand out. An Alabama man was singing about the Crimson Tide in the heart of Vol country, and the man standing next to him was the reason the room was there at all.
How the duet came together
Riley Green released “Alabama Vs. Tennessee” on Monday, October 12, 2026, through Nashville Harbor Records, with Manning featured on the track. Green had started teasing it less than a day before it dropped.
The song splits the rivalry down the middle. Green takes Alabama’s side, Manning takes Tennessee’s, and the two trade playful shots back and forth. They name-check the things each state is proud of, from Music Row and the Smoky Mountains to Muscle Shoals and the Flora-Bama. By the chorus, they have settled on a simple truth: two good old boys can root for opposite teams, and it is still just Alabama against Tennessee, nothing personal.
Manning, to put it kindly, is not a natural singer. AL.com noted that he mostly speaks his lines in rhythm rather than truly singing them. According to American Songwriter, he was nervous about singing with Green at all, and it took a few beers before the two loosened up and started bonding over their teams.
The music video is set in a smoky honky-tonk, where the two sit at a table, order drinks and argue about football. AL.com reported that the bar set was left over from one of Manning’s Bud Light commercials.
The last time Riley Green sang about Alabama in Knoxville
Green knows exactly how a Knoxville crowd feels about the Crimson Tide. In February 2024, he played Thompson-Boling Arena in front of more than 20,000 Vols fans and reached his song “Hell of a Way to Go,” a tribute to his late grandfather. One line in it has Alabama beating Tennessee on the Third Saturday in October.
The arena booed him. Green pulled his hat down over his face and sang the line anyway. The second time the line came around, he flipped it with a smirk and sang it Tennessee’s way, and the boos turned into cheers. By the end, the whole arena was singing the last line with him.
So when he showed up at Saloon 16 with a song about the very same rivalry, he was not walking in blind. This time, he simply brought Tennessee’s favorite son along with him.
Peyton Manning and the Alabama game
For Vols fans, Manning and Alabama go together. He went 3-1 against the Crimson Tide as Tennessee’s starting quarterback, throwing for 919 yards and seven touchdowns in those four games. He has also become one of country music’s favorite guests, hosting the CMA Awards and popping up onstage with artists over the years.
How the day ended
A few blocks away, Tennessee hosted Alabama at Neyland Stadium that Saturday, October 17. The Vols won, 26-10, handing Alabama its second loss before November.