Georgia/Tennessee Preview

Mark Richt was hired to beat Tennessee. Ray Goff never did it. Jim Donnan only did it once. From 1989 until 1999, Georgia never beat Tennessee.

It was bad enough during those years that Florida became a national power under Steve Spurrier. Georgia only beat Florida once in the 90’s, but that was still once more than Georgia beat Tennessee in the 90’s. Even in 1997, when Georgia managed to beat Florida, the Dawgs missed out on the SEC title game because they lost to Tennessee.

October 6, 2001 is a day that changed the trajectory of both Georgia and Tennessee. Georgia traveled to Knoxville to take on a Top 10 Tennessee team, having already lost to South Carolina in the month of September. Mark Richt was in his first year at Georgia, and the new head coach was looking for a signature win, but it wasn’t going to be this week. Georgia hadn’t won a game in Knoxville since 1980. That’s right, it had been 21 years and three coaches since Georgia won in Neeland Stadium.

It just so happens that some of Larry Munson’s most famous calls come when Georgia wins in Knoxville. In 1980, Munson painted the first picture of Herschel Walker for Georgia fans as he was running over people. 

“Oh, you Herschel Walker!” and “My God, a freshman!”

October 6, 2001 would provide another magical moment from the mighty Munson.

After Tennessee scored a late touchdown to retake the lead, freshman quarterback David Greene drove Georgia down into the Tennessee redzone. With under a minute to play, Greene found fullback Veron Haynes in the back of the Georgia endzone for one of the most improbably Georgia victories of all time.

“We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot and broke their nose. We just crushed their face.”

The history of Georgia football changed that day. So too did the history of Tennessee football. \

Georgia would go on to be an average 8-4 in 2001, and even lost the Music City Bowl to Boston College. But in 2002, Georgia would go 13-1, win their first SEC title since 1982, and finish number 3 in the nation. Georgia has since won another SEC title, played in five SEC title games, and finished number 2 nationally at the end of the 2007 season, despite missing out on the SEC title game that season.

Since 2001, Georgia has had 8 seasons where they have won 10 or more games, and the Dawgs have become a national power.

For Tennessee, the 2001 season would continue despite the loss to Georgia. The Vols ran the table after Georgia, and sat in perfect position to play for the National Championship in 2001. All that stood between Tennessee and the title game, was Nick Saban and LSU. Uh oh.

LSU upset Tennessee in the SEC title game. Tennessee made the title game again in 2007, but again they lost to LSU. The Vols have won 10 games only three times since 2001, and with the hiring of Butch Jones in the off season, they have had four head coaches in five years.

After not beating Tennessee at all in the 90’s and not winning in Knoxville between 1980 and 2001, Mark Richt has turned the tide against the Vols. Georgia is 5-2 in Knoxville under Richt. Overall, Georgia is 9-4 against Tennessee in the Mark Richt era.

However, there is history that would support Georgia fans being a bit nervous about playing Tennessee tomorrow.

In 2004, Georgia won a huge game against LSU between the hedges, only to fall a week later to an inferior Tennessee team. Georgia missed out on their third consecutive SEC title game in 2004 because of that loss to Tennessee.

In 2007, a one loss Georgia team traveled to Knoxville and laid down one of the worst performances of the Richt era in a 35-7 loss. Georgia would need a game winning field goal to survive at Vanderbilt a week later to avoid a complete meltdown. However, just three weeks after losing 35-7 to Tennessee, Georgia stormed the field following Knowshon Moreno’s first quarter touchdown against Florida en route to a huge win. Georgia would run the table in 2007, blacking out Auburn on the way. At the end of the regular season, Georgia was playing as well as any team in the country. However, because of the loss to Tennessee, Georgia would miss out on playing LSU in the SEC title game. Despite being ranked higher than LSU going into championship Saturday, voters moved LSU, the conference champion, ahead of the Dawgs in the final polls, allowing the Tigers to play for and win the National title. All because of a loss to Tennessee.

The path to the SEC title has opened up perfectly for Georgia following the Dawgs’ dramatic 44-41 victory over LSU last Saturday. Georgia stands undefeated in the league, with their two toughest league games behind them. Florida’s offense doesn’t seem to be able to score enough to stay with Georgia, and Vanderbilt isn’t the same team they were the past couple of years under James Franklin.

But Bulldog fans can take nothing for granted traveling to Knoxville.

When you look at the 2013 version of these two teams, there is no doubt that this is a miss-match on paper. Georgia has one of the best offense’s in the country, while Tennessee’s defense allowed 24 points to South Alabama last week in Knoxville.

Defensively, Georgia has struggled to stop teams like Clemson, South Carolina, and LSU, but Tennessee’s offense is 112^th out of 120 teams in the FBS in passing yards per game. Tennessee does average more than 200 yards per game on the ground, but Georgia’s defense has shown in the past two weeks that they are capable of slowing down the running game.

It doesn’t look like Todd Gurley is going to play Saturday, so I guess that would leave room for the most optimistic Vol fans to believe that Tennessee has a chance in this game, but I doubt it.

It might be a little sloppy, but Georgia will pull away in the second half.

I think Butch Jones is a great coach, and it scares me to death to think that he might be able to get things turned around at Tennessee, but not this year. Georgia has too much talent, too much depth, and honestly too much to play for to lose this game.

Georgia 42   Tennessee 20

GO DAWGS!