Georgia smothers No. 1 Tennessee in 27-13 victory

ATHENS, Ga. — No. 3 Georgia gave an extraordinary crowd what it came to see, dropping No. 1 Tennessee 27-13 in the highest-ranked matchup in Sanford Stadium history. The Bulldogs held the high-flying Volunteer offense out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter while the offense had its way in the first half.

Stetson Bennett completed 17 of 25 passes for 257 yards and two scores. He added another touchdown on the ground. The defense held Tennessee to its season-low of just 289 total yards.

Georgia couldn’t have asked for a much worse start on offense. The Bulldogs got the ball first and couple of first downs to get near midfield. Daijun Edwards carried it on first down and after picking up solid yardage, had the ball knocked out. Tennessee took over at the Bulldog 47-yard line but only squeezed a Chase McGrath 47-yard field goal out of it for the 3-0 lead.

The UGA offense put that mistake behind it and went on a touchdown march. Stetson Bennett got things rolling with a 52-yard hookup with Arian Smith. The sixth-year senior quarterback finished it off with a 13-yard touchdown run on 3rd and 10 to give Georgia the lead. Jack Podlesny’s made it 7-3 in favor of the home team.

The two teams traded punts on the next possessions. After a questionable non-safety call caused Tennessee to punt from its own one-yard line, Georgia took over at the Tennessee 37-yard line and got it all in one bite. Bennett found Ladd McConkey behind the Tennessee defense for the touchdown with the PAT giving Georgia a 14-3 lead.

The Bulldogs would make it 21-3 the next time they got it. It took a six-play 64-yard march with Bennett finding Marcus Rosemy in the back of the end zone to cap it off. The play covered five yards and Podlesny came on to make the PAT.

Tennessee responded with drive of it’s own, taking it down to the UGA nine-yard line before back-to-back false start penalties on third down put Tennessee in a bad spot. The defense held and Tennessee had to bring on the field goal unit.

The first half ended with Georgia tagging on three points. The Bulldogs ate up the final four minutes and 52 seconds of the second quarter but they didn’t leave themselves enough time to punch it in. The Bulldogs had to settle for a 19-yard field goal from Podlesny on 2nd down.

Tennessee got the ball to start the second half and used over five minutes of clock before it had to punt. Georgia got it and chewed up almost nine minutes of clock and picked up three more points on a 38-yard field goal from Podlesny. That pushed Georgia’s lead to 27-6

A fumble was the result of Tennessee’s next possession. Georgia got on it but gave it right back on the first play from scrimmage when Branson Robinson had the ball knocked loose.

Tennessee took over near midfield and used 14 plays to pick up 43 yards but Georgia came out on top after getting a stop on 4th and 9.

The Bulldog offense went three and out and Tennessee responded with its first touchdown of the day. Hendon Hooker found Jaylin Hyatt on 4th and 6, getting it to the UGA five-yard line. The Vols punched it in on the next play on a Jaylen Wright touchdown run. The PAT cut Georgia’s lead to 14 at 27-13.

Tennessee followed that by attempting and onside kick. Georgia recovered but went three and out, making things more interesting than they were most of the way.

But a 4th down sack by Rian Davis sealed the deal. It was Georgia’s seventh of the game and gave the ball back to the Bulldog offense with 2:42 to play.

Georgia is at Mississippi State next week. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.