Georgia Football takes on the Tennessee Volunteers this weekend in a game both teams have to win and UGA looks for revenge for 2016.
REVENGE! I’m sure that’s on the mind of every Georgia Football fan. Last year’s loss was sickening. I watched it with a good friend of mine, who was a Tennessee fan, and I had to hear her sing “Rocky Top” all night…..I now hate that song more than the ugly orange they wear. The Dawgs come in rolling at 4-0 and ranked #7 in the country. Tennessee is 3-1 and their only loss was a hail mary by Florida. Tennessee is also checkerboarding the stands and wearing their smoke jersey. This is going to be a fun night in Neyland Stadium. Let’s dive into this breakdown.
What Tennessee has to do to win.
Watching Tennessee so far, it’s hard to see what their offensive identity is. I honestly believe it’s because they lack one. They have struggled most of the year offensively but we all know that Georgia will get their best shot. Quinten Dormady has got to have a big game to take some pressure off of star running back John Kelly. Tennessee has tried to dink and dunk with their passing game so far this season, but to beat Georgia, it is a must that they stretch the defense and make room for Kelly.
What Georgia must do to win.
Feed the running backs. Chubb, Michel, and Swift may all have big days. Tennessee was dreadful on defense against Georgia Tech and made the Florida offense look halfway decent. The Dawgs’ offensive line looked the best it has in a few years last week. It is tough that they lost Solomon Kindley but I still think the line has potential. Look for Georgia to have a lot of success on the ground Saturday.
There has been a lot of talk about Nick Chubb after his 2015 injury in Neyland. While I don’t expect Chubb to approach this game any differently, I wouldn’t be shocked if he had his best game of the season. Some of the abuse Tennessee fans have put out there regarding his injury has been horrendous this week. I highly expect Chubb to have seen all of it and go out there and run over some poor Vols. Look for Georgia to have a lot of success on the ground Saturday.
X-Factors
John Kelly is a super elusive running back for the Vols. He is the leading rusher and trails the leading receiver by less than 50 yards. The Tennessee offense goes as Kelly goes. He will be keyed by the UGA defense all afternoon and is going to have trouble finding a groove. He is going to have to be sensational if this Tennessee offense wants to move the ball.
For Georgia, I’m going with Jake Fromm. With Tennessee looking to stop the run, Fromm will have more chances to suck in the defense and hit them with some play action. Fromm was impressive last week and it will be hard to keep him off the field even with the return of Jacob Eason. If he continues what he did last week, Georgia will be just fine.
Next: DotD's prediction for UGA vs Tenneessee
Who wins?
In the past, I’d be a little skeptical about this game. But the culture seems different. The defense is ferocious. The defense will play big for UGA. Georgia 27 – Tennessee 10.