The Tennessee Volunteers came out swinging.
The Georgia Bulldogs counterpunched, and kept punching. After falling behind 10-0 and playing yet more flat offense the Red and Black caught fire and outpaced the Big Orange 31-17.
On a night when he was missing his most explosive back in Trevor Etienne and his most reliable receiver, Dillon Bell, went down with an injury Carson Beck stepped up and delivered with the help of a host of new faces. Six different Bulldogs caught passes of 20 yards or more on the night, a surprising departure for an offense that hadn’t been able to conjure up any big play threat the week before in Oxford.
“It’s hard to play on the road in this league. I keep saying that” Kirby Smart noted matter of factly in his post-game interview, before inviting the good folks of the College Football Playoff committee to come down and try it some time.
After looking tentative and unsure against the Rebels, and suffering under the weight of yet more drops from his receivers in the early going, Beck looked like a new man for the final three quarters of this one. He finished 25 of 40 for 349 yards and 2 touchdowns. But it was the number that was missing that really reassured Bulldog fans: 0. For the first time since Georgia’s October 5th victory over Auburn Beck didn’t turn the ball over once. And he avoided turnovers despite attacking downfield for much of the night.
Mike Bobo too deserves some credit for coming out of his shell a bit as a playcaller, jettisoning his over-reliance on the screen game to eat up chunks of yardage. The Athenians finished with 452 yards of total offense, 6.4 yards per snap. That’s a number that looked unachievable just a few days ago. The credit that doesn’t go to Beck, or his newly ascendant receivers, should go to the offensive line. A unit that has been maligned for much of the season and never more than last week dominated a vaunted Tennessee front that had looked among the best in the nation.
Georgia ground out 106 yards on the ground, 6 more than the Vols’ season average. Admittedly 32 of those came from the fleet feet of Carson Raine Beck, who had a big third down conversion and a 14 yard touchdown run. Nate Frazier also managed some tough yards on the ground and earned the final touchdown to seal the deal. Luke Beck however, the headline may be that Frazier didn’t turn the ball over. It’s wild how much easier it is to win football games when you don’t do that.
Defensively the Dawgs again stiffened when they needed to most, allowing only 331 yards of offense, just more than the lowest amount the Vols have rolled up all season. Perhaps most significant they held when they had to, limiting the visitors to a field goal in the first quarter when this one could have gotten away, and stopping them coming out of the halftime locker room to keep the momentum with the home team.
Speaking of which, credit also goes to the Sanford Stadium crowd. While a bit apprehensive in the early going, they ultimately got into the flow and affected the game play late. Georgia actually had an impressive list of recruiting visitors for this one, and the crowd and atmosphere were exactly what you want in that situation.
From here the Bulldogs will take on a lowly UMass team next week before closing things out with a resurgent Georgia Tech team. This game felt like the kind that a team could build on. Sadly we’ve said that before about this team, which has seemed on the verge of turning the corner before.
I’m not sure if they truly flipped any sort of magic switch on this cold and damp night in Athens. But I know the Tennessee Volunteers were right there with Steve Spurrier’s Gators as the hobgoblins of my collegiate football viewing experience. It always feels fantastic to beat them, and likely knocking them out of playoff contention makes it just a wee bit sweeter. I’m still not sure this team will ever play to the potential I believed they had coming into 2024. But on this night they found a gumption and toughness I did t know they had, and I’m proud of them for showing that. It’s once again great to be a Georgia Bulldog.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!