‘KEEP PUNCHING’
Patience prevails for Georgia ground game
If the Hail Mary two years ago inside Sanford Stadium represented the most amazing finish in the Georgia-Tennessee football rivalry, and last season’s Bulldogs blowout marked the worst loss ever for the Volunteers inside Neyland Stadium, then how will this past Saturday’s outcome be remembered?
Just a typical afternoon in the Southeastern Conference, according to third-year Georgia coach Kirby Smart and first-year Tennessee counterpart Jeremy Pruitt.
“It will be this way as long as he’s there and I’m here,” Smart said in his news conference early Saturday night after his team’s 38-12 triumph in Athens.
While Pruitt expressed there would be no moral victories in his Tennessee tenure — each of the Vols’ three defeats through five games this season have been by 26 points — Smart stressed you can’t take an SEC foe and dismantle its rushing defense from the start. Had tight end Isaac Nauta not gathered Jake Fromm’s fumble and raced 31 yards for the opening touchdown midway through the first quarter, Georgia would have managed 36 rushing yards on 10 carries through the first 15 minutes.
Remove Nauta’s fortunate play, and the Bulldogs would have entered the fourth quarter with 122 yards on 33 carries (3.7 per carry).
“When you go across the SEC, show me a team that runs the ball in the first quarter for 5 yards a down against an SEC front,” Smart said. “I just don’t think it happens. You can’t just say, ‘We’re just going to run it down their throat. We’re Georgia. They’re Tennessee.’ It just does not happen that way in this conference.
“It’s hard to run the ball early. You must chop wood, hit people and wear them down, and you’ve got to have the threat of the pass.”
The fruits of Georgia’s labors were revealed after Tennessee tailback Ty Chandler took a short pass from Jarrett Guarantano and turned it into a 35-yard touchdown reception that pulled the Vols within 24-12 with 11:10 left in the game. The Bulldogs countered with a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that contained just one pass, albeit a key one when Fromm and Riley Ridley connected for 10 yards to convert a third down.
Georgia’s big fourth quarter resulted in a total of 251 rushing yards on 50 carries for an average of 5 yards a pop, with junior Elijah Holyfield leading the way with 16 rushes for 78 yards.
“They’re subbing defensive linemen in and out, because they’re trying to keep their guys fresh,” Smart said. “Our offensive linemen aren’t subbing outside of probably one guy. The conditioning and that wearing down had its effect in the fourth quarter, and if you don’t run the ball in the first quarter, do we still have that effect in the fourth quarter?”
Said Fromm: “It was a body-blow thing. You keep punching and keep punching and keep punching. My favorite drive was in the fourth quarter. We took nearly eight minutes off the clock.”
Georgia (5-0, 3-0) is now No. 2 behind Alabama in the two major polls, with the Bulldogs moving up Sunday from No. 3 in the Amway Coaches Poll. They will attempt to go 4-0 against the Volunteer State this Saturday night, when they host Vanderbilt (3-2, 0-1) at 7:30, having already whipped Austin Peay, Middle Tennessee State and the Vols this season. The SEC Network will televise the game.
“I’m proud of the way we competed,” Smart said. “We had some adversity. We had some plays that we missed that I thought we should have hit, and we gave up some plays defensively that we had some busts.
“Our team is still developing. We’re still growing and trying to get better.”
Odds and ends
Georgia redshirt junior Rodrigo Blankenship has made five field goals of 40 yards or longer this season, his most in any single season, and he has made all 116 PATs of his Bulldogs career. … Smart on not learning a ton about his secondary against the Vols: “They were playing to keep the game close. They weren’t taking a lot of shots.” … Senior tight end Jackson Harris (leg injury) played for the first time this season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@ timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.