Let’s hear it for the Dawgs: Georgia dominates No. 1 Tennessee

ATHENS, Ga. – NO. 3 GEORGIA SPENT THREE-PLUS HOURS GIVING NO. 1 TENNESSEE A TUTORIAL ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER AND A MEDIA SENSATION.

SORRY ABOUT ALL CAPS, BUT THE ONLY WAY TO CONVEY THE ATMOSPHERE BETWEEN THE HEDGES SATURDAY IS TO YELL. GEORGIA WON 27-13 BECAUSE THE DAWGS CAME INTO THE GAME WITH A DOMINANT DEFENSE, MORE TALENTED PLAYERS AND – WHO KNEW HOW IMPORTANT THIS WOULD BE – THE HOME CROWD. HENDON HOOKER AND HIS HEISMAN CAMPAIGN WOULD BE NO MATCH FOR ANY OF THEM.

After the game, in the calm of the interview room, Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of the crowd of 92,746 at Sanford Stadium, “We asked them to be elite. They responded.”

The fans yelled beneath overcast skies. They yelled during the brief moments of sunshine in the first half. They yelled as the Dawgs raced to a 21-3 lead in the first 16 minutes of the game. They yelled louder during the downpour that extended through most of the second half.

Here’s the effect the fans had: The Volunteers committed seven false-start penalties and one illegal formation. The nation’s No. 1 offense scored 36 points fewer than its average (49.4) and gained barely half (289) of its average total offense (553.0). The Dawgs sacked Hooker six times. A Vols offense that had made 54 plays of at least 20 yards this season made one Saturday, a 28-yard pass to Jalin Hyatt that set up Tennessee’s only touchdown, a 4-yard run by Jaylen Wright with 4:15 to play.

Hooker threw for 195 yards, threw his second pick of the season and looked nothing like a Heisman winner. Not that he was to blame.

“Sometimes we could not hear the snap or the play call from Hooker,” said Hyatt, the national leader with 14 touchdown receptions. “I give credit to the fans. That would probably be the biggest thing that got us today.”

Smart played at Georgia in the 1990s. He has been the coach for seven seasons. Asked if Sanford Stadium had ever been louder, he said, “When you can’t hear, it’s deafening. What’s more deafening than deafening? The decibel thing? I don’t understand that thing at all. No way it’s accurate.”

The promotions office in the athletic department posts the results of a decibel meter between Tennessee offensive snaps. They say it’s reasonably accurate. In the first half, the meter went as high as 127. The American Academy of Audiology describes 120 as “uncomfortable.” Check, say the Vols.

Early in the fourth quarter, the meter crested at 132. The audiologists say 130 is “painful and dangerous.” Bingo, say the Vols. On that drive, Tennessee had a second-and-goal at Georgia’s 17. Here’s what followed: sack, false start, sack, false start, sack again.

So much for the Vols. The 52-49 defeat of Alabama last month showcased Tennessee football at its most captivating – the fast pace, the fast starts, the big plays. Georgia provided an on-ramp for Tennessee to display all of the above. Tailback Daijun Edwards fumbled on the Dawgs’ sixth offensive snap, the Vols’ Tamarion McDonald recovering at Georgia’s 47.

Hooker completed five passes on the ensuing drive – for all of 27 yards. Throw in two false start penalties, and the Vols didn’t get inside Georgia’s 30. The Vols converted the turnover into a field goal, but it became clear that the Dawgs’ defense came prepared. Smart, a great defensive coordinator before he became a national championship coach, tried to eliminate “hard and complicated.”

“This is what we’re doing. This is how we’re doing it,” Smart said. “We’re going to keep it simple. We’re going to line up fast. We’re going to strike blockers. We’re gonna keep the ball in front of us. We’re not going to let them be explosive. We’re going to affect the quarterback. We’re going to buy into it.”

In a 12-minute practice segment, Smart said, the defense usually sees 24 plays. This week, they saw 35 to 40. Another goal, he said: “Getting lined up quicker than they do.”

Tennessee had outscored opponents 103-30 in the first quarter this season. They lost the first quarter Saturday 14-3, and no one but the replay official understands why it wasn’t 16-3. Georgia punter Brett Thorson, from the Dawgs’ 24, boomed a kick that headed for the right pylon of the Tennessee end zone as if it were going home to Mama. The ball rolled out of bounds inside the 1. On third-and-6, Jalen Carter knocked Hooker backward in the end zone and separated him from the ball. Right guard Javontez Spraggins picked up the fumble and didn’t make it to the goal line before three Georgia defenders tackled him.

Spraggins lost the ball well after he was down. Left guard Jerome Carvin fell on it a foot into the field of play, and somehow, no official who saw it live or on replay decided Spraggins had in fact lost the ball while down in the end zone.

Tennessee punted out of its end zone, and Ladd McConkey made a fair catch at the Vols’ 37. Six plays later, on the second snap of the second quarter, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint caught a 5-yard pass from Bennett to put Georgia ahead 21-3. Bennett – stop me if you’ve heard this – came into the game as the overshadowed quarterback and left as the winner.

In the first half, Bennett went 15-of-21 for 226 yards and two touchdowns. In the steady rain of the second half, Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken called plays so conservative they could run for office in south Georgia. Bennett threw exactly four passes after halftime. It didn’t matter. Tennessee couldn’t move the ball. The Vols’ offense couldn’t hear itself stink.

Smart said the inability for an offense to hear its snap count gives the defense a two-tenths of a second advantage, enough to wreak havoc.

It may be as simple as Tennessee learning what it’s like to play a game of SEC and national importance on the road. The Vols, as we all know, beat Alabama in Knoxville.

“As a program,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said, “you’ve got to understand what you’re getting yourself into, and the atmosphere and the energy and the focus you’re going to get from everybody. Not just their program but their fans, too. The emotional part of the football game, you had to be able to settle into it early in the game. We did not do that in a positive way. We’ll be better.”

The Vols have a good chance of finishing 11-1, but won’t win the SEC East unless Georgia loses at Mississippi State and at Kentucky in the next two weeks. In other words, Tennessee won’t win the SEC East. The Vols still can make the College Football Playoff if the selection committee deems them one of the four best teams in the nation.

Tennessee better hope the committee members have a short memory.