Georgia Football Three Keys: Tennessee

Georgia faces Tennessee on Saturday in Athens. Here are your three keys to a Georgia win over Tennessee.

By Steve Wright

The No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs return to action on Saturday after a week off. They face a 1-3 Tennessee team that is also coming off of a bye and that needs a big win somewhere on the schedule to take some of the head off of head coach Jeremy Pruitt.

Key 1 – Be ready for anything at QB

As of right now the Bulldogs really have no idea which quarterback will be starting for Tennessee in this matchup. During the bye, Pruitt gave equal reps to each of his three scholarship quarterbacks in a kind of mid-season minicamp to try to get some life into his offense.

The starter for the first four games was junior Jarrett Guarantano, but he was benched in the crushing loss against Florida in the second half. True freshman Brian Maurer took over before Guarantano came back in later in the game. Redshirt freshman J.T. Shrout has also been given a look this week.

Basically, the Bulldogs defense needs to be ready to deal with whatever Pruitt throws out at quarterback and know that a change could come at any point.

Key 2 – Continue to grow

One of the things that coach Kirby Smart keyed in on this week was that the team not be allowed to plateau after five or six games. That can happen in a college football season and when that does happen trap games can be a real thing. The Bulldogs have to look no further than Clemson almost getting knocked off by a clearly inferior North Carolina side last week to be aware that taking a win for granted is the quickest way to lose.

This Bulldogs team isn’t yet perfect and areas need improvement. That will be huge here and for the rest of the season.

Key 3 – Work the defensive line rotation

The Georgia defensive line is an odd beast. There is no standout player, but it is a line that is more than the sum of its parts. The coaches have been very good at allowing the edge rushers to do their thing, creating mismatches with different looks and schemes that keep the defensive attack hidden until the very last moment. The defensive line runs seven or eight deep, with all of those players able to come into the game and make a big play to change momentum. Keeping fresh bodies on the field and going after the Tennessee quarterback will be big in this game.

Saturday‘s game kicks off at 6 pm CT (7 pm ET). Watch on the ESPN Network.

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