The Dawgs were being doubted all week heading into this matchup. The Tennessee Volunteer hype train was chugging along and everyone not living in Georgia was in for the ride.
People were comparing the Volunteers to the 2019 LSU Tigers. People said they were the best team in the country. Volunteer fans were trying to convince themselves that Sanford Stadium wasn’t going to give the Dawgs any kind of advantage because it’s “not loud.”
Quite frankly there were a lot of things said about both teams heading into this game. But when it came down to it, Georgia was ‘bout that action!
Contrary to belief, the Volunteers are really a running team. Their ability to run the ball successfully as well as their unique fast paced tempo has facilitated their explosive passing offense, but if you watched the game you saw none of that.
Georgia’s rushing defense pulled through again holding Tennessee to a mere 94 rushing yards and 2.2 yards per carry. The fact of the matter is if you can’t run the football, you can’t win games, and that’s what we’ve seen from Georgia all season.
Knowing they couldn’t run the Volunteers were put in a lot of obvious passing situations and that’s when the Dawgs went to town on Hendon Hooker. With the crowd noise being another big contributor, Georgia amassed 6 sacks and was able to pressure Hooker consistently throughout the game.
The truth is no one is preparing and playing better than Georgia right now. Tennessee was definitely one of the most unique teams coming into that game, but Georgia made it look like another normal Saturday.
A special takeaway from yesterday’s game was the environment. Smart couldn’t tell if it was any louder than other big games like Notre Dame, Arkansas, or Kentucky, but to him loud is loud. And boy was it loud at Sanford.
Another week, another win. The Georgia Bulldogs are rolling right now. Now it’s off to Starkville. Hopefully your voice will be back in time to cheer on the Dawgs as they take on Coach Mike Leach and his Mississippi State Bulldogs’ prolific air raid offense next week.