Instant Analysis: Georgia bullies No. 1 Tennessee 27-13
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia overcame and early miscue to bully No. 1 Tennessee 27-13 on Saturday. An early Bulldog turnover now looks like a minor bump in the road as UGA sacked Hendon Hooker seven times and turned the Vols over twice en route to a ninth win on the season. Below, DawgsHQ tells you what we thought about it with our instant analysis.
- Stetson Bennett was really good tonight. He connected on three passes of more than 30 yards and a couple more that were in the 20-yard range. Bennett did it with his legs to get things started and I honestly believe him doing that on third down in the red zone was massive. That put a charge into this place that I’m not sure this place needed but UGA benefitted from it. It was also clear that Bennett isn’t a big fan of throwing a wet football.
- The two fumbles by Georgia running backs are less than idea. I didn’t see a replay of either one but Georgia has to secure the football better. Much better. With that said, Daijun Edwards came back from his fumble to make some key plays. Kenny McIntosh quietly piled up over 100 total yards on just 12 touches.
- I’ll have to go back and look at it in order to know whether or not Ladd McConkey’s success had to do with Tennessee stretching to take care of Brock Bowers, but I suspect it played a role. McConkey struggled in November but came up big in Georgia’s biggest game. Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint brought in some tough catches, including that touchdown. The Arian Smith siting in the first quarter is promising for this team.
- The offensive line was tremendous. It wasn’t until Georgia decided to go into a shell offensively due to the rain that Tennessee started having some success at stopping the run. Georgia delivered a lot of body blows. The pass protection was really solid. Bennett had time to do his thing.
- The Georgia defensive front faced all kinds of adversity. Robert Beal left the game. Mykel Williams was hurt for part of it. Georgia just kept running guys in there who were getting it done. Glenn Schumann and Will Muschamp were dialing it up in the fourth quarter. Georgia dared Tennessee to run the ball quite a few times and the Vols couldn’t.
- This wasn’t a big inside linebacker game because of all the space. With that said, Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Smael Mondon, Trezmen Marshall, and Rian Davis all had big plays in this game. Georgia got winning football from four inside linebackers. That’s pretty wild.
- Kelee Ringo’s interception was a result of perfect defense. He ran through the football while covering one of the fastest guys in America. Javon Bullard was even more impressive with seven solo tackles and two sacks. Georgia left Chris Smith and Malaki Starks on islands at times and they held their own. Kamari Lassiter did his part as well.
- The one thing that will stand out to me about this game, taking away the crowd, is the relentless effort Georgia gave on defense all the way to that Davis sack to seal the deal. It was max effort the entire way.
