Georgia Game Preview
Tennessee did what Tennessee always does. Beat Kentucky. And they did it in the most heartbreaking way imaginable for Kentucky fans. It's not unusual for Kentucky to play Tennessee close. Even during our great run they gave us some scares. The 1995 game was close. In 2001, Kentucky jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half before the sleepy Vols woke up. The game was back and forth a bit in the second half before Alex Walls kicked the game winning field goal to win 38-35 with 17 seconds left in the game. In 2007, Tennessee needed to beat Kentucky to clinch the East. Tennessee got off to a 24-7 lead at halftime and was leading 31-14 until the last play of the 3rd quarter. Kentucky came back and tied the game to send it to overtime. 4 overtimes later, Tennessee was the SEC East champs. Kentucky considers Tennessee to be their biggest rival. Now that they are decent at football, it's pretty sweet to beat them. Especially since they like to talk a lot of trash and then have to eat their words. Going forward, I think Tennessee is going to distance themselves from Kentucky. The past 3 seasons, Tennessee is now 10-1 against Kentucky, South Carolina, Missouri and Vanderbilt. Even with Pruitt being the coach for two of those seasons. Despite where Kentucky is this year with their favorable schedule, Tennessee is now only looking up to Florida and Georgia in the East. They are the next rungs on the ladder. Folks like Sean Sinclair have been saying for a while that Tennessee has to start beating the teams they should beat before they worry about Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Well, they've done that now. It's time to start chasing the upper echelon.
I'll be honest. I've been dreading this game all week. All year really. It literally makes me sick to my stomach to see Georgia this good. It was just five years ago that these two programs were on pretty equal footing. The talent level of the teams were pretty much equal. Since then, the goofy coach they hired turned out to be pretty solid. The moron we had at the time ran the program into the ditch. We replaced him with an even bigger moron who also ran the program into the ditch. Meanwhile, Georgia just kept buying the best players they could until they had the second most talented roster in the country. Luckily for Tennessee, it looks like we've finally hired a real football coach with a functional brain. Unfortunately, he was left with a big mess to clean up. He has done well squeezing every big of talent out of this roster that he can, but Tennessee's talent level isn't anywhere close to Georgia's right now. Especially defensively. Tennessee has a patchwork defense while Georgia has arguably the best defense that college football has seen since 2011. The matchup of Tennessee's offense against Georgia's defense is very intriguing though. The Vols are by far the best offense Georgia has faced all year.
It really makes me sick to have to say how good the leg humpers are. They have the most ignorant fan base in the country. Adult humans barking at other humans? What is that? When I first started watching college football, we never lost to Georgia. It was really only close like twice in a 9 game winning streak. From the 1995 game until midway through the first quarter in 2000, Georgia never held a lead on Tennessee. From 1992 until 2000, Georgia never held a lead on Tennessee in Athens. Keep in mind, they played every year. It's very hard for me to respect a program that I saw do that. There has been talk of tearing down the goal posts if Tennessee somehow pulls off the win. No. Just no. Georgia isn't worthy of that. I don't care if they are number 1 or not. Going forward, the only way tearing down the goal posts will be acceptable is if we beat Bama at home when we break that streak. Never again after that. We've been to the mountain top. We're better than that.
On to the game. As I said earlier, Tennessee's offense against Georgia's defense will be the matchup of the year for the Vols. How much success Tennessee has will be determined by how well the offensive line holds up. If they can give Hendon Hooker some time, I think there will be plays to be made in the secondary. I expect Tennessee to come out firing to try to soften up that defense. I don't think Tennessee will run the ball well early, or at all if they can't have some success with the downfield pass. If they can hit some long shots, they should get some room to run. If that happens, they will be the first team all season to put stress on Georgia's defense. This is a tall order though. Make no mistake.
The reason I don't like this matchup for Tennessee is because the defense seems to have peaked and has really fallen off. The book is out on how to move the ball on Tennessee. Run right at them. The Vols are very weak at linebacker and no doubt Monken has seen it on film. Georgia loves to run the ball in the first place and they should be able to exploit that weakness. If I thought Tennessee could get off the field on third down against Georgia, I would feel a lot better about our chances. I just don't think the Vols will stop them much. We probably won't see Georgia's punter many times.
Does Tennessee have a path to victory? Sure. Georgia has at least one choke job a year and they are due. If they play bad and the defense can get some stops, and the offense can move the ball some, Tennessee can win. That's a very narrow window though. I just don't think the Vols have enough defense this year.
Georgia(-19.5) 38
Tennessee 17
In Other Games...
Oklahoma(-6.5) 41
Baylor 24
Michigan(-1.5) 31
Penn State 27
Ohio State 38
Purdue(+21.5) 28
Texas A&M(-2.5) 30
Ole Miss 24
LSU(+2.5) 28
Arkansas 27
Last Week 4-2(2-4 ATS) Overall Record 30-14(25-19)
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That's all I have for this week. After Saturday there will only be two games left in the regular season. Cherish every game. If the Vols finish 7-5 as expected, they may find themselves in a decent bowl. Some projections have the Vols facing off against Texas. That would be fun. I've seen a few matching us with Penn State. It's kind of incredible considering most people thought the Vols would go 5-7.
Stay safe and have a great weekend. Go Vols and God Bless!