FREE THOUGHT FRIDAY
ON ONE HAND: The apparent perfect setting in Athens is bothersome to me. Nick Chubb will not be at full strength if available at all. The Dawg defense was shredded last Saturday in Oxford and the offensive line had trouble moving Nicholls State. Jacob Eason has an NFL arm but his understanding of SEC football is in its infancy and thus far his WR corps has been too pedestrian to bail him out. In other words, it’s teed up; and that’s when we so often slice it into the woods.
ON THE OTHER: There is no mistaking the magnitude of the game from Tennessee’s standpoint. Win Saturday and we’re strapped into the driver’s seat to be the East’s representative in Atlanta. Florida and Georgia present the only true challenges within the division and we’ve already done all the damage we can do to the Gators. Beat the Dawgs on Saturday and they will be an afterthought with only one more Florida slipup standing between the Vols and a
sure December 3rd appearance in the Georgia Dome. When I first viewed the 2016 schedule I felt that back-to-back games versus Florida and Georgia would be anything but advantageous. Now after vanquishing the demons from the Sunshine State I rather prefer another immediate must-win scenario. It would be much scarier from a motivational standpoint if we were headed to Columbia S.C. or entertaining Missouri. The Vols might well sleep walk through those games entirely. The Dawgs however will have our full attention.
WHAT VOL FANS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE DAWGS
OFFENSE:
-Fr QB Jacob Eason is 64-123 (52%) passing for 780 yds with 5 TDs and 3 Ints
-RBs Nick Chubb (83-422; 3 TDs) and Sony Michel (23-106; 0 TDs) are the first Bulldog teammates to each have 1,000-yard rushing seasons in their career.
-Fr Brian Herrien has been the Bulldogs’ third back and led the team at Ole Miss with 78 yards on 11 carries (7.1 avg.) and two touchdowns
-Fr RB Elijah Holyfield saw his first action against Ole Miss (4 rushes 27 Yds and a 19 Yd reception) and will almost certainly play against the Vols if Chubb is out or limited.
-Jr WR Isaiah McKenzie leads Georgia with 21 rec. for 318 yards with 4 TD and a long of 66 yds but is listed at third team on the Georgia depth chart released for the Tennessee game.
-Soph Terry Godwin has 12 receptions for 163 yds and no TDs
DEFENSE
-Soph DT Trenton Thompson has 20 tackles including 4 TFL and 1 sack
-MLB Natrez Patrick leads the Dogs in tackles with 24 including 14 solos.
-Jr S Dominick Sanders has 10 career interception after registering a league leading six picks in 2015. He finished last year with a UGA single season record of 205 interception return yards
-Jr S Aaron Davis has 15 tackles; 1 tfl; 1 sack and 1 Int.
SPECIAL TEAMS
-Georgia PKs have struggled this season. After R-Soph William Ham went 3-for-7 on FGs in the first three games, R-Fr Rodrigo Blankenship got a shot at Ole Miss and went 0-1
-P Marshall Long is averaging 39.6 yards on 22 punts
-Georgia’s return game is scary. Isaiah McKenzie’s four punt returns for TDs is 5th best in SEC history. He also has 1 career KO return for a TD.
-Sr Reggie Davis is a stud returner as well with 17 kick returns for 394 yards (23.2 avg.) in 2015 to go with eight punt returns for 110 yards (one for a TD at Tennessee last year that covered 70 yards). This year, Davis is averaging 24.8 yards on six KR.
ODDS & ENDS
-The Bulldogs have rallied back from being down by 10 points in wins over #22 North Carolina in Atlanta and at Missouri
-For the 14th time in the series, both teams are ranked in the top 25, and the Bulldogs are 5-8 in these ranked matchups.
WHAT VOLS MUST DO VERSUS GEORGIA
FORGET ABOUT DUCKS PULLING TRUCKS: The loud-mouth Gators are in the rearview mirror and the only way they can really hurt the Vols from this point is if we get caught looking in any direction other than the windshield. The Vols have by far the most demanding non-division schedule among the East contenders (Fla-LSU & @ Ark: Ga-Auburn) making Saturday’s game non-negotiable. Never has “snap and clear” seemed more relevant.
BE EXTREMELY SOUND IN THE KICKING GAME: As seen above Georgia’s return potential is as dangerous as any phase of their squad. Coverage units need to be disciplined and Aaron Medley at his long-ball best. Trevor Daniel, just keep doing what you do so well with accuracy and hang-time.
SET THE ALARM CLOCK CORRECTLY: I love that we have a team with a finishing kick but only Usain Bolt can afford to constantly be the last guy out of the blocks. The Vols seemed to have addressed all their past issues except the slow starts. You can’t play 30 minutes on the road in the SEC against quality opponents and get away with it.
SOFTEN THAT BELLY: The Vol offensive line’s improvement in the second half versus Florida was comforting and their confidence should continue to grow versus a Dawg defense that allows 4.4 ypc on the ground. Hopefully “Butch Debord” will use our three-headed ground gobbler (Hurd, Kamara and Dobbs) to make the Dawgs crowd the box and open up more downfield passing opportunities for Josh Dobbs and our improving WR corps.
NO SUDDEN SADNESS: It seems we always surrender some type of long non-offensive TD to these guys that changes the complexion of the game entirely. Last season it was a 96-yard fumble return and a 70 yd punt return both for TDs. This Georgia team CANNOT beat us without the aid of a defensive or special team’s TD. DO NOT GIVE THEM ONE!
WHAT WE WILL LEARN IN WEEK 5
ROOM AT THE TOP: It’s not shaping up as a great Saturday of CFB as Early-October so often seems to provide but a shuffling at the top of the deck is certain to occur. There are only three games -other than Tenn-Ga- matching ranked teams and amazingly they are all in the Top-10. It starts Friday evening with #7 Stanford traveling to # 10 Washington, resumes at 3:30 with #8 Wisconsin visiting the Big House to take on # 4 Michigan and concludes with an 8 PM matchup between #3 Louisville and #5 Clemson. You could make a case that close losses by Michigan, Louisville or Clemson would not drop them from the Top-10 but a more likely scenario is all three losers will be banished from the polls’ upper tier. If the Vols and Texas A&M take care of business, there is a very strong chance that next week they will participate in a Top-10 matchup themselves.
PAC-12 NORTH PACESETTER: What is this the SEC East in the 90s? Stanford and Washington are a combined 7-0, are clearly the class of the PAC-12 North and will face each other with September barely in the rearview mirror. Tennessee and Florida can relate. When the dust clears Saturday in Seattle either the Cardinal or Huskies will be in the North driver’s seat and remain in the Top-10 as well as the National Playoff hunt. Washington was a trendy pick to win the PAC-12 and though -with the exception of a trip to Arizona- the competition has been light the Huskies are off to a 4-0 start. As the Vols found out so many times however the season really starts with Stanford for Washington just as it did with Florida for Tennessee. And like the Vols and Gators recent history has not been kind to the Huskies with Stanford winning 9 of the last 11 contests.
WHAT’S REAL IN THE ACC ATLANTIC: One was thought to be a playoff contender the other an ACC Atlantic afterthought; Saturday night they may just swap roles. Clemson’s season was supposed to be defined on the last Saturday of October in Tallahassee against Florida State while most believed Louisville would be eliminated from any type of discussion period against the same Seminoles six weeks earlier. Instead the Cardinals made FSU look more like FIU with a 63-20 curb-stomping while the Tigers have looked rather ordinary -though they are 4-0- with road wins at Auburn and versus Ga Tech. I think Louisville has proven they are not going away but Saturday night we’ll know more about both team’s true identity.
HEISMAN ELIMINATION GAME: Clemson’s Deshaun Watson came in one of the heavy Heisman favorites while Lamar Jackson was largely unknown outside of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. After a shockingly remarkable start (Passing- 1330 yds 13 TDs; Rushing- 526 Yds 12 TDs) however the trophy now appears to be Jackson’s to lose. As Leonard Fournette found out last season in Tuscaloosa however head-to-head matchups with other contenders weighs extremely heavy on voter’s minds. Derrick Henry almost certainly won the award last season when he carried a work horse 38 times for 210 yards and 3 TDs against LSU while Fournette would struggle through 19 attempts where he averaged only 1.3 yards/carry.
THE REAL COACH “O” Who could have possibly guessed this time last season that when Missouri traveled to LSU those teams would be led onto the field by Barry Odom and Ed Orgeron? By Power-5 program standards Gary Pinkel and Les Miles were veritable icons. Pinkel lasted 15 seasons at Mizzou while Les Miles guided the
real Tigers for 11+. The two combined for 230 wins (Pinkel-118; Miles-112) at their last stop and though rumored late that neither would return for 2016 I still find it hard to believe it has come to fruition. So the game now shifts from being led by coaches with 332 career wins (Pinkel Toledo-Mizzou; Miles Okla St-LSU) to a pair with 18 (Odom- 2 at Mizzou; Orgeron- 10-Ole Miss; 6-USC). Orgeron has no chance to have the interim removed from his name for the 2017 season but I’m not sure Odom vs Orgeron ever was going to become Spurrier vs Fulmer anyway.
ARE THE SOONERS IN A “STOOPER”? The pre-conference schedule was challenging and commendable but lopsided losses to two of the current Top-3 teams in America (@ #3 Houston and vs #2 Ohio State) has left Oklahoma eliminated from playoff contention with only a Big-12 Title still on the to-do-list. Their conference hopes will likely come into focus as quickly as their National dreams vanished. The Sooners will travel to Fort Worth to face co-preseason Big-12 favorite TCU who’s trying to stay relevant themselves after faltering early against Arkansas. Oklahoma has won three of the last four meetings but the only upset will be if the game is not closely contested. The last three years have seen the Sooners win at home in 2013, 20-17 and in 2015, 30-29 when the Horned Frogs failed on a 2-pt conversion try late in regulation. TCU won the last game played in Fort Worth in 2014 by a score of 37-33. With the Red River Rivalry straight ahead the Stoops brothers -the ones not about to be fired in Lexington- would be well-advised to start winning some games before their seat gets toasty.
FINAL FRIDAY THOUGHT: I believe any losses suffered by the Vols this season will come in the next three contests. Let’s not let Saturday be one of them.
