Tennessee vs Georgia: 10 Keys to the Game for Vols and Bulldogs

Apr 16, 2016; Athens, GA, USA; General view of Sanford Stadium during the first half of the Georgia Bulldogs Spring Game at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Tennessee vs Georgia features two teams loaded with talent but one trying to find its identity. Here are the 10 keys for the Volunteers and Bulldogs.

Coming off of such an elating win over the Florida Gators, how can the Vols avoid a hangover in the Tennessee vs Georgia game? At the same time, how can the Bulldogs rebound and restore morale after such a blowout loss to the Ole Miss Rebels last week?

In this game, you have two teams with similar talent coming from two opposite ends in terms of how they have to be feeling at this point.

As Butch Jones’s team travels to Athens this week, he knows he has the players to beat Georgia on the road. However, his players have struggled with maintaining their focus throughout the season.

That nearly cost them in the opener against the Appalachian State Mountaineers.

Kirby Smart, meanwhile, is a brilliant X’s and O’s coach for the Dawgs and does have quite a bit of talent thanks to solid recruiting by Mark Richt before he left for Miami. However, Georgia has to simply wonder if the talent is ready to play together.

And the depth of talent is a bit of a concern.

Last year, the Dawgs blew a 24-3 lead to the Vols on the road to lose 38-31. You can bet the players will want to make amends for that game as well as last week’s loss.

But do they have the right match-ups for that to happen? And can the Vols exploit Georgia’s weaknesses, which Ole Miss exposed last week? Let’s find out here.

These are the 10 biggest keys to the Tennessee vs Georgia game in 2016.

Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Evan Berry (29) runs the ball against Ohio Bobcats defensive lineman Andrew Payne (48) during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 28 to 19. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

10. Tennessee’s kick return game

This is a huge chance for the Tennessee Vols if they can get a return. Although the Georgia Bulldogs on average have mostly been solid on kick coverage, they are prone to giving up the big play every now and then.

That is exactly what happened in the first game of the year when they gave up a return for a touchdown against the North Carolina Tar Heels. As a result, an elite return team like Tennessee has a chance for a field day.

Under Larry Scott, Tennessee’s return unit has slowly improved to what it was doing last year. Against the Florida Gators, it had a huge role in constantly keeping the field position in their favor.

And Butch Jones has to know that the Vols are so close to finally breaking one, whether its Evan Berry on kickoffs or Alvin Kamara on punts.

What better game to do it than the Tennessee vs Georgia game? That has been a game defined by special teams plays over the past 16 years. With Kirby Smart replacing Mark Richt, maybe the Vols can flip those big special teams plays into their favor now.

They have the horses and the weapons, and this game screams for them to finally break off a big return. Doing that will play a huge role in helping the Vols finally get something going early, which they’ve failed to accomplish in three of four games this year.

A huge reason for that brings us to our next key.

Sep 24, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers tight end Jason Croom (18) drops a pass while being defended by Florida Gators defensive back Marcell Harris (26) during the first quarter at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

9. How many passes will Tennessee’s receivers drop?

The Florida Gators first half describes the Tennessee football season through the first four games in a nutshell. Elite wide receivers are all over the field. But despite great play-calls from Mike DeBord, they couldn’t hold onto the ball.

That can’t happen throughout the season. If it does, they will eventually get caught napping.

So going into the Tennessee vs Georgia game, the Vols receivers need to start making catches early. Mike DeBord and Butch Jones will undoubtedly want to get a few big plays to start the game in order to take the Georgia Bulldogs fan base out of it.

Josh Malone, Jason Croom, Ethan Wolf, and Josh Smith cannot have trouble holding onto the ball this game. That will make things a heck of a lot more difficult.

If Tennessee’s receivers could have made the catches they needed to make last week, the Vols would have had about 14 more points going into halftime.

The week before, they also had trouble with a few catches. Preston Williams, another guy in the lineup, has already had three key drops this year.

And they cost the Vols four points in the opener and three points against the Ohio Bobcats.

Overall, the receiving corps. along with the tight ends make up an elite collection of playmakers. They showed just how great they can be collectively in the second half of last week’s game.

But this has to be the week that they start making those plays early. And it is part of an overall bigger picture, which brings us to our next point.

Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) runs the ball against Ohio Bobcats defensive lineman Tarell Basham (93) during the first half at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

8. How many miscues will the Vols have on offense?

For the first four games, wide receiver drops have been part of a slew of issues for the Tennessee football offense. They continue to play sloppy and make tons of mistakes in the first half before putting it together in the second half.

These miscues include awful offensive line play, poor snaps, numerous fumbles that they have been lucky to recover, and those dropped passes. Oh, there is also the issue with Joshua Dobbs forcing about three passes a game, missing at least two open reads a game, overthrowing a deep ball, and a receiver misjudging a deep ball.

Because the Vols’ offense is predicated on so many big plays, they often times make up for these miscues. But they can’t afford to do that in the Tennessee vs Georgia game.

This is the first true road test of the year for Butch Jones’s team. So unlike the previous few games, a slow start will get the crowd riled up and have them cheering against the Vols all day.

Last year, Tennessee lost to the only two good teams it played on the road. In fact, it still hasn’t beaten a ranked team on the road since Butch Jones arrived in Knoxville. So this is a final hurdle for them to get over.

And if they can’t avoid miscues on offense, things will get much harder. Georgia may be coming off an embarrassing loss, but everything they hope to play for is still in front of them. If Tennessee comes out making costly mistakes, the Dawgs will be able to get in a rhythm.

The Vols don’t want that. They need to get in their own rhythm for the Tennessee vs Georgia game, which brings us to our next point.

Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) hands the ball off to running back Jalen Hurd (1) during the second half against the Ohio Bobcats at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 28 to 19. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

7. Tennessee’s Tempo

If Butch Jones and Mike DeBord can keep their offense focused, and if they can avoid these miscues, then the Tennessee vs Georgia game will come down to the tempo of the Vols.

Over the past two weeks, Georgia has struggled severely stopping up-tempo spread offenses. They squeaked past the Missouri Tigers only due to the offensive miscues that we just talked about on the previous slide. But that offense still torched Kirby Smart’s defense all day.

Then came the Ole Miss Rebels, and they flat out dominated the Dawgs with their tempo. The Rebels are similar to the Vols in how they run their spread.

Both teams like to go no-huddle, fast-paced, and make big plays, but they also play physical. Smart knows this all too well, noting that the Vols were the most physical team that Alabama played last year.

So going into the Tennessee vs Georgia game, DeBord will want to dictate the pace by going up-tempo all day. Doing that is huge for a couple of reasons.

On top of Georgia struggling with it, Joshua Dobbs is such a momentum player that getting in a rhythm is huge for him. He did this last year against Georgia.

And right now, as they figure out Smart’s new system, the Dawgs simply can’t hang with an offense that does that.

However, this is the third straight key in a row contingent on the Tennessee football offense being able to play its game. And we have another key related to that on our next slide.

Sep 3, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs defensive tackle Trenton Thompson (78) celebrates a sack by linebacker David Marshall (51) during the 2016 Chick-Fil-A Kickoff game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Georgia Dome. Georgia won 33-24. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

6. Tennessee’s offensive line vs Georgia’s defensive tackles

Last week was the first game all year that the Tennessee football offensive line deserved a very good grade for consistency across all five players. Chance Hall’s return clearly made a difference, and they wore the Florida Gators down in the second half.

The Tennessee vs Georgia game will once again come down to the offensive line. In Georgia’s 3-4 scheme, sophomore defensive tackle Trenton Thompson is one guy who has begun to thrive.

Georgia has put together an elite interior defensive rush that many SEC teams can’t match, which is a huge testament to Kirby Smart and what he has already installed there. The Vols, meanwhile, have well-documented struggles on the offensive line.

For the most part, their interior blocking has been okay, but Dylan Wiesman can still mess things up with a few bad snaps a game. After all, he didn’t come into the season expecting to play center.

As a result, Butch Jones and Mike DeBord both have to be concerned about what happens in this game.

And it’s not only due to those bad snaps.

They still need to be able to run a solid rotation up front, and even with Hall back, they’re still having slow starts. Slow starts against Georgia could be deadly because the Dawgs can use their interior defensive linemen to wreak havoc. That will get the crowd in this game in a hurry.

And coming back from that on the road is a heck of a lot tougher than doing it at home.

Sep 24, 2016; Oxford, MS, USA; Georgia Bulldogs running back Nick Chubb (27) runs the ball during the second quarter of the game against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

5. Georgia’s rushing attack vs Tennessee linebackers

A lot of this is going to come down to Nick Chubb. Will he or will he not be good to go in the Tennessee vs Georgia game? And even if he is good to go, how healthy will that ankle be?

The Tennessee football defense has become elite at making adjustments with Bob Shoop at defensive coordinator. However, we can’t overlook the fact that they’re playing without Darrin Kirkland Jr. and with Jalen Reeves-Maybin hurt.

As great as Colton Jumper and Cortez McDowell were last week, can they keep this up? If Georgia can get its running game going, that is going to be extremely difficult.

Shoop has already shown trouble at establishing what his defense can do right out of the gate. He does not want to get Georgia going early in the running game and allow them to dictate the flow of this game.

That’s what happened with the Appalachian State Mountaineers, and the Vols would have lost that game were they playing on the road.

They are playing on the road here, and Georgia’s rabid fan base will desperately be looking for something to cheer. If Kirby Smart can dictate the flow of the game with Georgia’s running backs, Tennessee is in trouble.

The Dawgs want to establish this early and often to keep Tennessee’s defense on its heels.

It is also ket to setting up the other part of their offense, which brings us to our next point.

Sep 24, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Florida Gators wide receiver Antonio Callaway (81) catches a pass while being defended by Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Justin Martin (8) during the first quarter at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

4. Can Tennessee stop the deep ball?

Last week, the Vols struggled early stopping the deep ball against the Florida Gators. With Justin Martin as the main culprit due to a tweaked ankle, Austin Appleby helped build a big early lead with a few bombs to Antonio Callaway.

You can bet that Jim Chaney and Kirby Smart noticed that. Going into this week, Bob Shoop has already announced a huge adjustment. He is going with a freshman to start alongside Emmanuel Moseley at cornerback now.

Baylen Buchanan, the son of longtime NFL defensive back Ray Buchanan, will start in Martin’s place. While Chaney and Smart want to dictate the flow of the game by running the football, they are going to try to mix in a few big plays.

Those big plays will be the deep balls here, as they test both cornerbacks. After all, while Buchanan is a freshman, Moseley has struggled at times this year as well.

So Chaney and Smart can really get the crowd in this game with a few deep balls to Georgia receivers. If Tennessee can’t stop it, and then they let the Dawgs get into their rushing offense, they’ll be in trouble.

The home crowd will be all in it then. Oh, and Georgia will be right there to take advantage of those Vols offensive mistakes we talked about earlier.

This is the biggest part of the Tennessee vs Georgia game for the Dawgs to try to get the crowd in it. They have to test the Vols deep for big plays. It will also help boost something they desperately need going into this game.

Sep 24, 2016; Oxford, MS, USA; Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart walks the field before the game against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

3. Can Georgia maintain a decent morale after last week’s loss?

The Georgia Bulldogs are entering this game after being embarrassed by the Ole Miss Rebels last week. Given the fact that they just escaped the Missouri Tigers and even Nicholls State the two weeks before, confidence has to be at an all-time low.

That season-opening win over the North Carolina Tar Heels seems like it was a long time ago.

However, going into the Tennessee vs Georgia game, Kirby Smart has a chance to restore the Dawgs’ morale. After all, everything they want to do is still in front of them. And a win over the Vols could put them exactly on the right track that they need to be on.

So Georgia needs to come out with a decent morale in this game.

This is reminiscent of 2004, but it was the opposite. The Vols went to Athens to play Georgia after they were blown out by the Auburn Tigers the week before. However, they still knew all their goals were in front of them.

And against a Top 5 team that just blew out the LSU Tigers the week before, they came to play with everybody writing them off.

Smart has a chance to do the same thing if he can keep his team excited in his first year as head coach. Knowing they are playing with house money in a rebuilding year has to help. The pressure is on Tennessee, and they are at home. So the Dawgs’ morale can play a huge role in the Tennessee vs Georgia game.

The other team’s mentality is also a factor.

Sep 24, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones during the second half against the Florida Gators at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 38-28. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

2. Will Tennessee keep its focus after such a huge win?

We’ve seen hangovers before from the Vols in their history after huge wins over the Florida Gators. The SEC Championship loss to the LSU Tigers in 2001 stands out above all the other ones.

Going into the Tennessee vs Georgia game, it will take everything Butch Jones has to keep this team properly focused. As the program continues to take major steps under his leadership, this is one of the final steps they absolutely have to take.

The Vols are coming off a huge win, they’re going on the road to play a good team, and they have all the expectations and pressure to perform well. With everything in front of them, the pressure is on the guys in orange.

Unlike last year, they have responded well to all the pressure so far, but this is the final step they really have to take. It’s their first road test of the year and they are playing a team much better than it looked last week.

This is also a team that, if it can keep its morale, will want to come in and bring its A game with house money. The Vols, meanwhile, have to be as excited to play this game as they were to play the Gators last week.

If they go in holding their nose hoping just to get past the Dawgs, they will be in trouble. This team is too talented for that.

But there is one factor in the Tennessee vs Georgia game that can make things easier for the Vols. And that takes us to our final point.

Sep 24, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive lineman Shy Tuttle (2) reacts after a play against the Florida Gators during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 38-28. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

1. How much havoc do Tennessee’s defensive ends wreak?

This is the key reason the Vols should win the Tennessee vs Georgia game on Saturday. It is far and away the biggest mismatch between the teams.

Tennessee obviously has a brilliant defensive coordinator in Bob Shoop who knows how to adjust. Meanwhile, the Vols have the best pass-rushing combination in maybe all of college football.

Derek Barnett and Corey Vereen have begun to wreak havoc as they were expected to, and it came to fruition last week against the Florida Gators when Barnett had two sacks and three tackles for a loss.

This week, the Vols are facing a freshman quarterback in Jacob Eason who is still struggling severely to throw the ball while under duress.

Meanwhile, the Dawgs have looked atrocious on the offensive line, mainly at both offensive tackle spots. So Barnett and Vereen should have a field day getting into the backfield.

Make no mistake, Tennessee vs Georgia should put both guys in the national spotlight. They have to have the games of their lives because the match-ups are screaming for it.

They will need some help in the middle from Shy Tuttle, Danny O’Brien, Kendal Vickers, and Kahlil McKenzie.

But Barnett needs a three-sack game and Vereen needs to get multiple tackles for a loss. Seriously, Eason should get hit every time he drops back to throw. We should be witnessing one of the greatest mismatches in the SEC here.

And how much pressure the Vols can get on Eason will dictate who takes control of the Tennessee vs Georgia game.