Georgia football: what went right and wrong against Tennessee

Covering the flats late in the game

I debated including this as an issue, but I decided too since Tennessee did produce a touchdown from this. Georgia covered Tennessee very well all game. Very few passes were completed downfield and Guarantano was never comfortable in the pocket.

Georgia accomplished that with tight coverage downfield and a consistent pass rush of four-to-five defenders. But Georgia decided to leave the flats open because that was typically the last check down and the coaches had faith in the safeties and outside linebackers to converge on the play.

For the most part they did, until Tennessee finally decided to throw to the flat from the huddle. We all saw the result. It’s hard to pinpoint the blame. The players for not converging on the ball or coaches for not anticipating the play. Or we could chalk this one up to how difficult it is to hold any team to single digits.

Bad penalties

On Tennessee’s first touchdown drive, the Vols had two first downs because of penalties. One was a questionable pass interference call which I see both sides of. The other was a personal foul on Walker that should have never happened. Kirby Smart unloaded on Walker when he returned to the sidelines.

A false start early in the second quarter on a third-and-one derailed a drive. Georgia had to settle for a field goal on that possession. Only three of the penalties may have seriously hurt, but that’s still three too many.

Missed passes

There’s plenty of blame to go around here. D’Andre Swift and Terry Godwin had nothing but the end zone ahead of them when they missed accurate passes. Riley Ridley also lost a step when he decided to stutter on his deep route early in the game. Though that didn’t hurt the team as Georgia scored a play later.

But there were situations later where Fromm overthrew his targets. J.J. Holloman beat two men and had two steps on the Volunteer defense when Fromm missed him. Throughout this week, chemistry between Fromm and the receivers has to improve. Everyone involved know they messed up. This offense has a lot of pride, so I expect them to come out much better next week.

None of Georgia’s issues from Saturday are unfixable. The long TD out of the flat was a freak occurrence, a weakness of a game plan that was otherwise flawless. Penalties are also fixable, especially personal fouls. False starts happen, they just can’t happen on third and one. And quarterback/receiver chemistry is an easy fix for this team.