Georgia-Tennessee: Observations from the Cheap Seats

The Georgia-Tennessee was a game of highs and lows – literally and figuratively. I got to tailgate with Lindsay Scott, thanks to some circumstance, and some good friends.

Lindsay Scott got to hang out with me. Photo credit / Sravanthi Meka

Then I had to watch the Dawgs almost hand the game to the Vols. Thankfully, the Vols refused to take advantage of the opportunities handed to them (or thrown to them), and Georgia escaped with a 3-point win.

Noon kickoff, a 17 point spread, a four-game winning streak against the Vols, and wins in 10 of the last 14… Everything was scripted for the Vols to play spoiler for the Vince Dooley recognition game.

The Georgia defense allowed a touchdown in the opening drives to Clemson and South Carolina, and Troy drove the ball to the Dawgs’ 10 yard line with a second string quarterback before missing a field goal. My inner-Munson is always convinced the opponent will play their toughest game against the Dawgs, and they often do.

The lows started early. Instead of the offense with the nation’s second highest yards per carry, we saw three punts in the first quarter. Among the first quarter mishaps: Hutson Mason losing his helmet on a quarterback sneak, then Mason throwing to Jeb Blazevich when he was blocking – clearly a lack of communication there.

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Speaking of Mason’s lost helmet, why didn’t Richt put Isaiah McKenzkie in the Wild Dawg there? It is rare that Georgia puts a back-up quarterback into the game in an unplanned situation, and gains yardage.

Finally, McKenzie said, “We can’t get anywhere on offense, I’ll just get it on special teams.” He had more yards (29) on the punt return as our offense had all game (20) at that point.

Finally on that drive, Mason had a beautiful run for the first touchdown on a fake by Todd Gurley that occupied three white jerseys. So even when Gurley doesn’t touch the ball, he delivers. Use Gurley.

This was around the time I noticed something was different about the field (since I had a reason to look at the endzone), and I pulled up a photo from last week’s game – the edges of the field are painted white. Definitely makes the “Georgia” and “Bulldogs” in the endzone stand out!

Field during the Troy game on September 20th (top) and the Tennessee game on September 27th (bottom) – Photo credit / Sravanthi Meka

The crowd got fired up again on two sacks on Tennessee’s last two drives in the first quarter, the first by Damian Swann, second by Jordan Jenkins. The second quarter also brought the first Nick Chubb sighting of the game.

Another random non-game related item: I noticed captains wearing black Cs instead of the usual white.

Now let’s get down to the rest of the lows. Mason had a game of firsts – an interception and a sack, and then another interception. The football looked like cotton candy floating over the field.

I haven’t been impressed with his play this season, but this game was by far his worst. Even if he gets star receivers Malcolm Mitchell and Justin Scott-Wesley back, floaters like we saw against Tennessee won’t be effective at all.

The Dawgs couldn’t take advantage of a 15-yard penalty on the second half kickoff return, and Mason promptly lofted his second interception of the day straight into a white jersey. I haven’t seen what the Vols’ “bench” did to get the penalty before halftime, but it must have been salty!

The turning point for Georgia was Josh Dawson‘s fumble recovery in the endzone for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Georgia pinned the Vols deep at the 1 yard line to make that play possible. Credit to Damian Swann and Ryne Rankin on the punt coverage there.

If Tennessee won, the turning point would have been when Georgia had 12 men on the field on punt return to give Tennessee first down. Things didn’t get any better when the Dawgs had 10 men on the field on the next punt return and had to take a time out. I thought we had this special teams thing straightened out?

I predicted a 10 point win over the Vols, and it could have happened if Gurley broke a run on the last drive for his third touchdown of the day. I think 208 yards rushing and two touchdowns is enough to give Gurley the game ball.

As for Tennessee, Jalen Hurd had a good game, but his fumble in the endzone put the Vols too far behind to come back. Tennessee looks to have found their coach in Butch Jones after two strikeouts, and they have plenty of young talent to make them a contender in the SEC East again. They will miss A.J. Johnson though, but the Dawgs certainly won’t, as he made the victories against the Vols hard-fought battles.

Other than Gurley, the other highs of the day were the halftime show the Redcoats put on and the recognition of the 1964 team and Coach Vince Dooley. The Redcoats spelled out “1964” and played a medley of songs from the year 1964, including Mary Poppins, Elvis Presley and the James Bond theme song.

The Redcoats Halftime Show featured songs from 1964, Vince Dooley’s first year at UGA – Photo credit / Sravanthi Meka