Georgia football vs. Tennessee 1st half thoughts

Georgia football and Tennessee have hit the halfway point of the game, and so far it has lived up to the hype. Kirby Smart's squad has had a lot of the same problems they have had in recent weeks, but they showed a lot of determination and grit when the game started off in Tennessee's favor.

But after all of the good and bad moments from Georgia, the Bulldogs find themselves tied with Tennessee 17-17 at the half.

Here are a few quick thoughts from the first half while these teams sit in the locker room during halftime.

Drops and sole starts...What's new?

Georgia once again did what they've done most games this season, started slow and had some early drops. There really is no worse way to start a game then having your receiver drop a deep ball that was perfectly thrown by Carson Beck. The Bulldogs' offense couldn't get anything going on their first drive after that and had to punt the ball away.

From there the Georgia defense did not do much better, and Tennessee went on an easy 12 play, 76-yard touchdown drive to take an early lead.

However, after a couple punts by both teams, the Georgia defense finally provided a tiny spark to help ignite this Georgia team.

Defense stands tall on short field

Tennessee had a huge special teams play on a big punt return late in the first quarter. They started their drive on the Georgia 37-yard line, which is not ideal whatsoever. However, UGA got the stop and forced a long field goal which Tennessee made to take a 10-0 lead.

Sure this extended the Vols' lead to two scores, but that was a mini spark that Georgia's offense was then able to build on during their next possession.

Carson Beck marches Georgia down the field

This time it was Beck who led Georgia down the field on a 7 play, 75-yard touchdown drive. The highlight of the drive was the 19-yard strike from Beck to Oscar Delp as well as the 14-yard scramble from Beck where he lowered his shoulder and ran through a Tennessee safety.

This drive, combined with the nice stand from the defense the possession before, gave Georgia the momentum back and got the crowd back into the game.

Back and forth finish to the half

Georgia's defense came back on the field and got another quick stop, which setup the offense to go on another long touchdown drive. This time it was a 10 play, 84-yard drive capped off by another touchdown reception for Delp from four yards out to take their first lead of the game.

Tennessee got the ball back and immediately took the lead back 17-14, but Beck and the offense had an answer once again. They marched right down the field in a hurry and added a field goal of their own to tie the game at 17.

Tennessee gets the ball to start the second half, so Georgia's defense is going to have to be ready to make a stand to try and keep the momentum on UGA's side.