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ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia-Tennessee rivalry may not have the juice of, say, Georgia-Auburn or Tennessee-Alabama, but it’s fast becoming a matchup of heavyweights. Four of the last five games have featured both teams ranked in the top 20, and Saturday night was, in many ways, a playoff play-in. At stake: a potential SEC championship berth for Tennessee, a likely playoff berth for Georgia.
Before a delirious Sanford Stadium crowd, the Bulldogs struggled early but gathered themselves late, looking less like the tentative crew that lost to Ole Miss and more like the threatening bruisers that could wreck the CFP. Georgia won 31-17, and put itself right back in the playoff race. Tennessee, meanwhile, falls into the pool of two-loss SEC teams who will be fighting for CFP playoff spots.
Georgia punter Brett Thorson — the only Bulldog who came out of the gate strong — unintentionally set the early mood for Georgia in the first half. The Dawgs had gone three-and-out on their opening series, Thorson punted the ball away, and a Tennessee player knocked him to the ground. Flags flew, and Thorson lay on his back, gloating, expecting a roughing-the-punter call that would give Georgia a fresh set of downs.
It wasn’t to be. The officials picked up the flags, ruling that the Tennessee player had been blocked into Thorson. And Tennessee would proceed to score a touchdown on its ensuing drive.
It was a pretty stark message: If Georgia wanted a victory over a feisty Vols team on Saturday night, the Dawgs would have to earn it.
The status of each team’s starting quarterback dominated pregame talk. Would Nico Iamaleava be available after undergoing a reported concussion protocol? Would Carson Beck continue his slide from his Heisman Trophy candidacy into interception-slinging irrelevance?
The first half answered both questions fairly effectively. Iamaleava got the start, and led the Vols on touchdown drives of 78 and 75 yards, with a field goal in between. Beck, meanwhile, came out firing, throwing 29 first-half passes. Sure, many of those passes flew high or wide, but that’s better than into enemy hands, right? Beck connected with tight end Oscar Delp—also known as Brock Bowers 2.0—for two touchdowns, and drove the Dawgs to a late first-half field goal.
Halfway home, the game was tied at 17, with no clear edge for either side.
Georgia struck first in the second half, with a very un-Carson-Beck-like drive from Beck consuming 7:22 and covering 87 yards over 12 plays. Beck, who’s spent the last few weeks as the target of Georgia fans’ rage, appeared as composed and centered as he has all season on the drive, finding open men, eluding the Tennessee rush, and guiding Georgia with a confidence he hadn’t shown in weeks. He took the ball into the end zone himself on the drive’s final play, scooting 10 yards to put Georgia ahead 24-17.
Tennessee’s offense, so reliable in the first half, sputtered and staggered in the second, punting on three consecutive possessions. Following a two-yard touchdown run by Nate Frazier that gave the Bulldogs a 31–17 lead, Tennessee took over with 2:26 remaining in regulation but turned it over on fourth down with an Iamaleava fumble. The Vols were held scoreless over the final 30 minutes.