Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm cocks and fires a pass as Tennessee defensive end Kyle Phillips reaches for his jersey during Saturday's SEC East game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. The Bulldogs routed the Vols 41-0, and it was UT's worst Knoxville loss in 112 years.
photo by Dennis Norwood
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee’s hopes of upsetting No. 7 Georgia lasted four seconds.
On the game’s first play from scrimmage – the opening kickoff sailed through the end zone -- Georgia’s right cornerback Tyrique McGhee intercepted a Quinten Dormady pass and the Bulldogs turned the opportunity into a 38-yard Rodrigo Blankenship field goal.
After that it was all over.
Georgia, coming off a 31-3 thumping of Mississippi State, took advantage of a pitiful offensive effort by humbled Tennessee and cruised to a 41-0 SEC victory before a sellout crowd of 102,455 at checker-boarded Neyland Stadium.
“They just outplayed us today,” said Vols quarterback Quinten Dormady, who was 5 for 16 for a season-low 64 yards (44 came on one play to running back John Kelly) with two – and nearly – interceptions. “If you don’t execute and turn the ball over, you do not stand a chance of winning against a quality SEC opponent.”
The crowd looked swell from up high in the mammoth stadium, but it certainly didn’t inspire the Vols, who were trying for their third straight win over Georgia, but walked away embarrassed.
Georgia’s dominating, shutdown effort snapped Tennessee’s streak of scoring at 289 games, which was the nation’s fourth-longest. Florida was the last team to shut out the Vols in a 31-0 victory in 1994. And let this little fact sink in. It was Tennessee's worst Knoxville loss since Vanderbilt pasted the Vols 45-0 in 1905.
The only way Tennessee (3-2, 0-2) could have beaten Georgia on a sun-splashed afternoon was for Peyton Manning, who attended the game as part of College Football Hall of Fame, had come out of retirement.
“It was as bad of an offensive performance as I’ve ever been a part of, and it’s inexcusable,” said Tennessee coach Butch Jones, who is 6-17 against ranked opponents.
A few plays stood out as problematic for the Vols:
Obviously, the first-play pick by Dormady.
On the second play, the Vols were flagged for a false-start penalty. The possession ended with a Trevor Daniel punt.
Tennessee’s Justin Martin intercepted a Jake Fromm pass at the Bulldogs’ 27 – the closest the Vols came to Georgia’s end zone – and two plays later center Jashon Robertson’s snap on second-and-eight hit him in the behind and the Bulldogs’ Lorenzo Carter recovered.
Georgia’s J.R. Reed beat Tennessee’s Josh Palmer for a 50-50 ball and got the interception and the play led to Fromm’s 4-yard TD run and the Bulldogs went to the locker room with a 24-0 halftime lead.
Jones was asked during his postgame press conference what the coaching staff would look to improve during the upcoming off week.
“Everything,” Jones said. “Everything in our program will be looked at from A to Z. … There is a lot of football left to be played, but we are being tested right now. Our goal is to win every single game.”
Georgia didn’t give the Vols a chance.
Fromm, who was 7 for 15 for 84 yards and a touchdown and added rushing TDs of 9 and 4 yards, helping the offense put up 366 total yards. From scoring pass went to Javon Wims and covered 12 yards, extending the Bulldogs’ early lead to 10-0.
Rodrigo Blankenship opened the scoring with a 38-yard field goal and Fromm’s second rushing touchdown gave Georgia a 24-0 halftime cushion, a fact that brought a chorus of boos from Tennessee fans as the Vols headed to the locker room.
Georgia’s defense, led by Roquan Smith’s 11 tackles, stymied the Vols at every turn. Tennessee nine-first half possessions ended with two interceptions, six punts and a lost fumble.
“I’m not going to stand here and lie and say it doesn’t feel to shut out our opponents,” McGhee said. “But that’s the mindset we come in with though.”
Georgia’s defense held the Vols to 142 yards, 80 through the air. Kelly, the SEC’s leading rusher going into Saturday action, ran 16 times for 44 yards, well below his 112.5-yard average.
“The goal was stop the run,” the Bulldogs’ Lorenzo Carter said. “Stop the run and everything else will fall in place.”
Said Georgia coach Kirby Smart on the Bulldogs’ defensive effort: “That’s not my defense. Coach (Mel) Tucker does a tremendous job with that defense. During halftime I didn’t need to go over there and see the defensive players. They had it under control.”
Tailback Nick Chubb, whose 2015 season ended with a serious knee injury suffered against the Vols, was the Bulldogs’ workhorse in a stable of dangerous runners. Chubb rushed for 109 yards and now he’s among the top 10 on the SEC’s career rushing list. Sony Michel had 64 yards, Elijah Holyfield (Evander’s son) finished with 51, D’Andre Swift picked up 36 and Brian Herrien 20.
In total, the Bulldogs rushed for 294 yards and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. After the first quarter, Tennessee’s defense had no answer for that.
“I thought we had a good week of practice,” Smart said. “(This was) the first time I’ve felt really comfortable that we were ready to play. Our team is starting to buy into the (idea) that if you form good habits, good habits start to form you.”
It was Georgia’s 800th all-time win.
"That's awesome," Smart said. "I think Georgia is one of the greatest programs in the country, but we have to keep chopping wood."
If Jones thought he had bad week after an unimpressive 17-13 win over UMass and controversy coming out of the locker room when the coach said Shy Tuttle was injured when he fell on a helmet, just wait for the two coming up.
The Vols are open next week and then return to action on Oct. 14 against South Carolina. Many from Saturday’s crowd might choose to stay away from that one.
With a 24-point lead salted away, the second half was a mere formality.
Michel scored on a 21-yard run, Brian Herrien found the end zone from 1 yard out and David Marvin kicked a 19-yard field goal.
As for Tennessee, the second half was just more of what happened in the first two quarters.
Tennessee reserve quarterback Jarrett Guarantano was inserted into the lineup with 64 seconds left in the third period. The redshirt freshman was 6 for 7 for 16 yards and had two sacks.
When asked about Guarantano after the game, Jones said, “Every position is up for a look in the bye week, so we have no starting positions. We’ll compete and the individuals who have the best week of practice and preparation for South Carolina will be the ones that are on the field first.”
Tennessee’s reserve quarterback Jarrett Guarantano
Running back Sony Michel’s 21-yard TD run into the south end zone pushed Georgia’s lead to 31-0 late in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth, reserve running back Brian Herrien scored on a 1-yard run. The six-play, 26-yard drive was set up when Daniel’s punt hit D’Andre Walker’s helmet. The kick went for minus-4 yards and Walker was credited with a blocked punt, albeit inadvertent.
The Bulldogs added David Marvin’s 19-yard field goal to cap the day’s scoring when the crowd had dwindled to maybe 25,000.
Georgia was celebrating.
Tennessee was bewildered.
“Well, first of all, everyone should hurt,” Jones said. “If it doesn’t hurt, then that shows you’re not heavily invested. If you’re invested, you hurt. This one stings.”
SCORING
Georgia 10 14 7 3 – 41
Tennessee 0 0 0 0 – 0
First Quarter
UG – FG Rodrigo Blankenship 38, 13:37
UG – Javon Wims 12 pass from Jake Fromm (Blankenship kick), 6:10
Second Quarter
UG – Fromm 9 run (Blankenship kick), 7:13
UG – Fromm 4 run (Blankenship kick), 4:14,
Third Quarter
UG – Sony Michel 21 run (Blankenship kick), 1:04
Fourth Quarter
UG – Brian Herrien 1 run (Blankenship kick), 12:00
UG – FG David Marvin 19, 5:34
Attendance: 102,455
YARDSTICK
UG UT
First Downs 20 7
Rushes-Yds 55-294 29-62
Passing Yards 84 80
Comp-Att-Int 1-17-1 11-23-2
Plays-Tot Yds 72-378 52-142
Fumbles-Lost 3-0 2-2
Punts-Avg 5-35.2 9-41.4
Penalties-Yds 6-65 5-26
INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING – Georgia: Nick Chubb 16-109, Sony Michel 11-64, Elijah Holyfield 7-51, D’Andre Swift 5-36, Brian Herrien 6-20, Jake Fromm 7-20, Mecole Hardman 1-minus 2, Team 2-minus 4; Tennessee: John Kelly 16-44, Carlin Fils-Aime 3-16, Ty Chandler 2-7, Tim Jordan 1-7, Quinten Dormady 1-minus 4, Jarrett Guarantano 5-minus 4, Team 1-minus 4.
PASSING – Georgia: Fromm 7-15-1-84, Swift 0-1-0-0, Jacob Eason 0-1-0-0; Tennessee: Dormady 5-16-2-64, Guarantano 6-7-0-16.
RECEIVING – Georgia: Terry Godwin 2-43, Javon Wims 3-33, Swift 1-5,Isaac Nauta 1-3; Tennessee: Kelly 4-47, Chandler 3-15, Josh Palmer 1-9, Jeff George 1-7, Ethan Wolf 1-3, Jordan 1-minus 1.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Tennessee defensive back Nigel Warrior (18) chases Georgia running back Elijah Holyfield, Evander's son, Saturday at Neyland Stadium. Holyfield rushed for 51 yards in the Bulldogs' 41-0 victory.
photo by Dennis Norwood