UT must respond on the ground
Tennessee can no longer boast of having the Southeastern Conference’s top rushing offense.
Reclaiming that status won’t be easy.
The No. 21 Volunteers will look to get their ground game back on track Saturday afternoon inside Neyland Stadium, but No. 1 Georgia may not be so willing to comply. Missouri certainly wasn’t fazed by Tennessee averaging 227.8 rushing yards per contest entering this past weekend’s showdown at Faurot Field, as the Tigers held the Vols to 83 yards on 23 rushes in cruising to a 36-7 victory.
“Part of that was the way the game ended and the type of scenario that we were playing out,” Vols coach Josh Heupel said, referencing Tennessee facing a doubledigit deficit for the last 25 minutes, “but a bunch of it was us not doing a great job with communication, fundamentals, running backs pressing the hole and doing a good job of reading things, too. It was a combination of all those things the other night.”
Tennessee’s rushing output in Columbia was a season worst, with the 106 in the 29-16 loss at Florida on Sept. 16 serving as the previous low.
The Vols slipped from third to ninth nationally and now average 213.3 rushing yards per game, which ranks second in the league to LSU’s 223.9-yard clip that was aided last Saturday night by Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels rushing for 234 yards alone during a 52-35 triumph over Florida. Auburn is currently third in the SEC with 207.2 ground yards per contest.
“Our biggest message to the running backs is to make sure we continue to prepare the way that we’re supposed to,” Vols running backs coach Jerry Mack said. “Don’t let that one game affect the way we finish this season off. We’ve done some really good things this entire season.”
Georgia’s run defense, meanwhile, is yielding 107.9 rushing yards per game to rank 19th nationally. The Bulldogs held the Vols to
“You’ve got to be able to strike a man and get off a block,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “Football is so simple when it comes down to your ability to play block protection or block people. You either get blocked or you don’t get blocked, and you’ve got to win a whole bunch of one-on-ones.
“Their backs are easily the best stable of backs we’ve seen this year, and their package includes the quarterback, so it’s a really tough prep. It just boils down to who can strike a block and get off a block.”
The Bulldogs outgained the Vols 274-55 on the ground two years ago in Knoxville, when the Bulldogs won 41-17, so Tennessee is trying to surpass 100 rushing yards in this series for the first time under Heupel.
Vols junior running back Jaylen Wright has rushed for 848 yards and 7.25 yards per carry, and he remains on track to become the program’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Jalen Hurd in 2015. Wright was held to 22 yards on seven carries at Mizzou, with sixth-year senior quarterback Joe Milton III leading Tennessee with 10 rushes for 36 yards.
“It’s truly just matching the surge and matching the energy that those guys will be coming off the ball with,” Tennessee sixth-year senior tight end Jacob Warren said. “Something we have handled all year long is the physicality and being able to go out there and move people. It’s not going to be every single one-on-one, because we all know that’s unrealistic in this game.”
The Bowers factor
Georgia has defeated Tennessee the past two seasons by the combined score of 68-30, with current Bulldogs junior tight end Brock Bowers combining on five receptions for 50 yards.
During Tuesday’s news conference, a reporter asked Tennessee linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary why the Vols were so good against the
All-American.
“You said that. I didn’t,” Jean-Mary responded. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and he’s one of the better tight ends I’ve seen in person and on video. The natural pass-catching and the ability to separate are as good as most wide receivers. I’m not going to sit here and say we designed a defense to try to slow him down, because I don’t think anybody can.
“Our hope is to contain him. I would never sit here and say we were able to stop him.”
Whitehead update
Len’Neth Whitehead is a redshirt junior walk-on running back at Georgia who knows a bunch of Tennessee players.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder signed with the Vols in 2020 and redshirted his first season before racking up 32 carries for 207 yards and 6.5 yards per carry in 2021. His 2022 season never got going due to an upper-body injury that required surgery before the start of August camp, and he transferred from Tennessee to Georgia this past May.
Whitehead has not seen any action for the Bulldogs this season.
“He’s doing great,” Smart said. “He’s been scout team player of the week a couple times in terms of the scout special teams units he plays on. He’s very intelligent.
“He gives us a great look and a great picture in terms of effort, and I’m really proud of what he’s been able to do.”
Odds and ends
Georgia and Tennessee are among the 12 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, which is presented annually to college football’s top offensive line unit. The finalists will be announced Dec. 5. … JeanMary on the play of sophomore linebacker Elijah Herring at Mizzou: “He was part of the problem. He wasn’t the only problem.” … Vols senior center Cooper Mays when asked if this was his last game against Georgia: “I’m not sure.”