Tennessee Volunteers vs Georgia Bulldogs

The Georgia Bulldogs look to continue their early-season scoring spree Saturday afternoon when they welcome the Tennessee Volunteers to Athens for an SEC East showdown. No. 3 Georgia scored 40-plus points for the fourth time in as many games last week, downing the Missouri Tigers 43-29 to improve to 4-0 on the campaign. The Volunteers are coming off a 47-21 loss at home to the Florida Gators in which they turned the ball over six times and lost starting quarterback Jarrett Guarantano to a leg injury. Oddsmakers have opened the point spread at 32.5 points in favor of the Bulldogs.

Tennessee vs Georgia Game Center

GEORGIA COACH NOT HAPPY AFTER WIN AT MISSOURI

Although the Bulldogs won by 14 points last week on the road, coach Kirby Smart wasn’t thrilled with their performance. Georgia committed seven penalties for 66 yards, allowed a blocked field goal, gave up 172 rushing yards and nearly cost itself a touchdown by dropping the ball near the goal line.

The final score was also misleading. Two of Georgia’s five touchdowns came from the defense and special teams, and the Bulldogs offense were just 3-for-12 on third down. Georgia still made big plays (its three offensive touchdowns came on plays of 33, 61 and 54 yards), but the Dawgs struggled to sustain drives against a mediocre Mizzou defense.

“We didn’t play with the discipline we need to play with,” Smart told reporters after the game. “And I’m responsible for that. We’ll get it fixed.”

VOLS COACH EXPECTS QUARTERBACK TO PLAY

Guarantano left last week’s loss to Florida in the third quarter after taking his second big hit of the game. Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt said after the game that he wasn’t too concerned about the injury, and doubled down on that during his weekly radio show on Sunday, telling the hosts that “I think he’s going to be fine.”

Whether Guarantano plays probably isn’t Tennessee’s biggest issue going into the game, anyway. His backup is Keller Chryst, who went 11-2 as Stanford’s starter the last two years before losing the No. 1 job due to injury and transferring to Tennessee for his final season. Meanwhile, Guarantano hasn’t exactly been tearing it up for the Vols. He was 7-of-18 passing for 174 yards, two interceptions and a fumble before leaving last week’s game, and Tennessee’s passing game ranks 98th in the country.

Tennessee’s bigger issues appear to be in the trenches. The Vols struggled in pass protection last week, a big reason that they turned the ball over six times and allowed a safety. Meanwhile, the Vols defense allowed Florida’s pedestrian attack to average nearly six yards per rush attempt.

BULLDOGS POISED TO COVER AS MOTIVATED FAVORITE

When you coach a defending national finalist that is off to a 4-0 start, it can be difficult to get your team’s attention. But that’s what I think Smart will have from his charges this week as they look to improve on a subpar performance last week at Mizzou. Smart wasn’t just critical of the Bulldogs’ execution and discipline in that contest, he also challenged their physicality – especially the defense, which he said was “outmanned” by the Tigers.

When a team as talented as Georgia is motivated, it’s hard for an inferior opponent to slow it down. Especially an opponent that shoots itself in the foot as much as the Volunteers, whose turnovers directly led to 24 of Florida’s 47 points last week. First-year coach Pruitt also doesn’t seem to have as much attention and respect from his team as Smart, even having to kick junior linebacker Quart’e Sapp out of last week’s game after Sapp refused to take the field for a play.

The Bulldogs blew out Tennessee 41-0 in last year’s matchup in Knoxville. With Georgia having won eight straight at home by an average of 29 points and the Vols having lost seven straight on the road, look for the Dawgs to cover a big number with relative ease.