Bulldogs Dominate Vols

After watching the game today in Athens two things stand out to me. Tennessee football has fallen even farther than I previously thought, and the defense is extremely overrated. The Bulldog running game bludgeoned the Vol defense on the ground and left them beaten and bruised. Georgia could basically do whatever they wanted too on offense and that was proven by an 11 minute drive to salt the game away.

Frankly, if it were not for 2 ill advised passes by Matthew Stafford that resulted in interceptions and a dropped pass by Georgia’s A.J. Green in the end zone this would have been really ugly. Tennessee is no longer competing with the teams that are considered the big boys in the SEC. The only exception would be the LSU game in Atlanta last year.

The Vols looked to have seized momentum late in the second quarter when Nick Stephens hooked up with Denarius Moore for a 52 yard gain. The Vols then found the end zone on a third down pass to Gerald Jones and the score was 13-7 Georgia. The key play of the game in my opinion was the 3^rd down play from inside Georgia’s five yard line. Middle linebacker Ellix Wilson was playing zone coverage and Knowshon Moreno slipped up the middle for the first down. Wilson had one guy to cover and he was nowhere near him. This drive ended in a touchdown just before half.

On the touchdown play at the end of the half, Demetrius Morley had one guy to cover and he was ten yards away from him. Certainly an easy pass for Matthew Stafford.

The Tennessee defense competed hard and play with intensity, but it could not come up with many 3^rd down stops, and Georgia had its way between the twenties. The Vol defense did show heart by stopping the Dawgs on six occasions inside the red zone. Those six possessions ended with 4 Georgia field goals, and 2 Tennessee interceptions. My observation: The Vol D was overmatched all day.

The Good:

Nick Stephens played about as well as you could expect considering the fact that he gets very little help. The receivers are average at best, and simply do not offer Stephens a viable threat downfield. Stephens finished the day 13-30 and 2 touchdowns.

Eric Berry had another interception and long return today and laid a wicked hit on Knowshon Moreno in the 4^th quarter. He is simply one of the best players in the country.

Denarius Moore caught a 52 yard pass from Nick Stephens in the 2^nd quarter setting up Tennessee’s first touchdown.

The Bad:

Coaching, the Vols were simply outcoached again especially in the first half. Georgia had Tennessee’s defense off balance throughout the half and simply wore them out in the 2^nd half. The Tennessee offense was simple and bland again. Run on first down, throw on 2^nd down, and hope for the best on 3^rd down. I do not believe it would be very hard to devise a game plan to stop the Vols offense.

I have been willing to give offensive coordinator Dave Clawson a pass on the offensive woes so far this season, but his bad calling cannot be ignored. Simply put, the offense is in a rut, it is unimaginative, and easy to predict.

The Offensive line is overrated; they are average at pass blocking, and terrible at run blocking. I realize that Georgia and every other Vol opponent has stacked the line to stop the run, but when Tennessee did that, Georgia ran off an 11 minute drive.

The Vol receivers are average at best. They cannot get open against press coverage, and other than Denarius Moore, there are no play makers in the group.

Tennessee cannot get off the field on 3^rd down. Repeatedly Georgia converted third and long. This has been a problem for the Vols for a long time, and it is not getting any better. The Vol opponents have converted on better than 40% of their 3^rd downs this season. Big pass plays and penalties have plagued the Vols all year on defense.

Pass defense was invisible most of the day as Matthew Stafford passed for 310 yards, a career high. He was 25-36 and had 2 interceptions.

Rush defense was pathetic. Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno became the first back to rush for over 100 yards against Tennessee this year. Georgia’s offensive line not only pushed the Vol defensive line off the ball, they buried them at the line of scrimmage. Georgia finished the game with 145 yard rushing, but it could have been much more if they had chosen to run instead of pass.

The Tennessee offense ran for 1 yard. It is certainly hard to accept the fact that a team that is coached by a former offensive lineman, and line coach could ever have a game where they rush for one yard.