The 2-0 Georgia Bulldogs welcome a fellow undefeated SEC football team on Saturday as the 2-0 Tennessee Vols travel to Athens.
Here are the three keys to a Georgia win:
By Steve Wright
Stop the run
The Georgia run defense has been a beast so far this season. They have allowed just 116 total yards and have yet to give up a touchdown on the ground. They are also allowing opponents to rush for just 2.3 yards per carry – a crazy number in the world of college football.
Tennessee will provide a test on the ground. The running game went for 232 yards and four scores against Mizzou. Eric Gray and Ty Chandler combined for 195 of those yards and they give the Vols a solid one-two punch that they will use to attack the Bulldogs’ defensive front. This battle will be one that helps decide the outcome of the game.
Pressure Jarrett Guarantano
The reason that stopping the run is so important for Georgia is that this will mean that Jarrett Guarantano has to step up and beat the Bulldogs from the quarterback spot. Guarantano was 14-of-23 for 190 yards and a touchdown against Mizzou and he is a player that can be pressured into bad decisions that see his game fall apart in a series of plays. Getting pressure from the Edge rushers is going to force Guarantano into a mistake or two that will be the difference here.
Continue to develop Stetson Bennett
The Bulldogs quarterback, who came off of the bench against Arkansas to pick up the tempo and the win, has been just what Georgia needed through six quarters of action. He has thrown for 451 yards and three touchdowns at a 65% efficiency rate, but he has avoided big mistakes with zero interceptions so far in his college career. He doesn’t need to be a world-beater with this defense and the developing running game, he just has to keep developing while hitting the occasional deep ball to keep opposing defenses on their heels.
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