There are a lot of ways in which the Georgia Bulldogs can extend their impressive winning streak over the Tennessee Volunteers. However, the cornerstone for keeping the streak alive starts and ends with Kirby Smart's team playing great defense. It has been a common thread throughout his coaching tenure in Athens, especially when going up against their former SEC East rival on an annual basis.
Yes, there are other players who need to shine on the defensive side of the ball. However, the driving force for another dominating Georgia performance on defense vs. the Volunteers has to be star linebacker C.J. Allen. He needs to be in the middle of everything. Along with Christen Miller in the trenches and KJ Bolden in the back-end, all three players need to show up big time vs. Tennessee.
So far on the season, Allen has amassed 11 combined tackles, two for a loss of yardage and one sack. Of his 11 tackles, nine have been of the solo variety, while only two have had someone else there to help him out. In short, Allen is taking a quantum leap as a defender in the Georgia defense. It is abundantly clear Smart and defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann have full trust and faith in him.
Here is why Allen has to be the guy for Georgia on Saturday, even more so than Bolden or Miller...
C.J. Allen has to be the driving force for the Georgia Bulldogs defensively
Everything with Georgia defensively this season starts with stopping the run. That is a linebacker of Allen's caliber's bread and butter. If Tennessee cannot run the football effectively, it may make things harder for the Volunteers offense to flourish under Joey Aguilar's watch. The next piece of the puzzle would be the pass rush. This is an area where Allen can also be a huge factor for the Georgia defense.
The ability to be an effective player vs. both the run and pass is why Allen stands to be the most important player on the field for Georgia defensively on Saturday. Furthermore, he has to be an igniting presence in terms of the Dawgs' defense being opportunistic when it comes to forcing turnovers. Bolden may be the better ballhawk, but Georgia has to know that Aguilar will throw picks.
Overall, Saturday is an opportunity for Allen to prove he is arguably the best defensive player in the entire SEC. The reason why Georgia has been so dominant over Tennessee for the better part of a decade now is how ineffective Josh Heupel's Air Raid has been against Smart and Schumann's defense. Georgia always has a claim to be Linebacker U. Saturday could be Allen's coronation for that.
For Georgia to keep the streak alive, the Dawgs must win the turnover battle, partly because of Allen.