To Tennessee's credit, they came out with a plan and executed it to the highest level in the first three drives against Georgia this past Saturday. After some key adjustments, Georgia was able to slow down the passing attack and come away with the victory in overtime.
However, Georgia still allowed over 370 yards through the air and four touchdowns on top of that. Even if Tennessee is one of the best offenses in the country, there are two key things that need to change for this Georgia secondary.
Keep everyone in front
Georgia's main key to success in the past several years against Tennessee was their ability to keep he Volunteers receivers in front and not allow the big plays through the air. That was not the case this past matchup. In fact, three of Tennessee's four passing touchdowns were from over 30 yards away.
If Georgia runs man coverage, they must keep Joenel Aguero or KJ Bolden deep for help. At first, Georgia was running cover zero or cover one coverage against Tennessee, but after they made some adjustments to have Aguero and Bolden play back, both safeties came away with an interception each.
Deflections, or even penalties, could be the best option
Georgia allowed some big plays on Saturday that could have easily been avoided. Ellis Robinson allowed a 72-yard touchdown while getting called for pass interference. Robinson did the right thing in trying to interfere to avoid the long touchdown as that is sometimes the best thing a corner can do. But if a defensive back is going to commit that penalty they need to commit it with so much force that it's impossible for the receiver to catch the ball.
Later on in the game, Daniel Harris had a similar play happen to him where he lost a jump ball to Chris Brazell for a touchdown. When Harris went for the pick, he mistimed his jump and caused Brazell to easily bounce off him and walk in the end zone. If Harris had played a more conservative approach and looked to bat the ball out of Brazell's hands, that is likely an incomplete pass. The secondary needs to limit these types of plays going forward.
Overall, Georgia should be proud of the way they played on Saturday. Even if they felt as if they were gifted a win at the end, they stayed resilient and made the right adjustments to succeed. Tennessee is also by far one of, if not the, best passing offenses in the country.
If the secondary specifically plays up to the standard they had in the second half, Georgia will have no problems moving forward.