ATHENS — Kirby Smart said the longer this past week went on, the better he slept.
He said that was due to increasing confidence in the Georgia Bulldogs’ plan against No. 1-ranked Tennessee on Saturday. The more the Bulldogs focused on their keys and rehearsed their roles in practice, the better he felt about everything.
“I slept better as the week went on,” said Smart, who improved to 75-15 as Georgia’s coach Saturday. “I felt really good in the plan we had. I thought we had to execute it. I told my wife and kids leaving (for the game), ‘We’ve done everything we can do. We’ve put together a great plan, our kids have bought into it, just go execute it.’”
It was indeed a good plan. It boiled down to attacking Tennessee’s vulnerable secondary with explosive offensive plays and not giving up any “layups” defensively, meaning coverage busts that result in wide-open receivers. It also was to win field position through special teams and to not turn the ball over.
Well, three out of four is not bad.
Georgia (9-0, 6-0 SEC) fumbled and lost the ball twice, but it came out a net-zero against the Vols, who also had a lost fumble and interception. Tennessee came in with an SEC-best plus-8 in turnover margin.
Executing that plan got the Bulldogs to 3-5 all time against the nation’s No. 1 team. The other two wins came against Florida in 1985 (24-3) and against Alabama (33-18) last January in the College Football Playoff Championship game.
Here are five things we learned from Saturday’s 27-13 win over No. 1-ranked Tennessee (8-1, 4-1 SEC):
Excellent scheming
The key, Smart reiterated often, was the game plan the Bulldogs’ coaching staff put together and the players buying into it. During his 15-minute postgame news conference, Smart used the term “plan” 22 times.
It was a particularly good one on defense. Smart gave co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Glenn Schumann credit for a special blitzing package that sent nickel back Javon Bullard after the quarterback while staying in man-to-man coverage in the secondary.
“He came up with a couple plays that he thought would disrupt them, and he kept running the same thing,” Smart said of Schumann. “I’m like, ‘We can’t run it again.’ He ran it again. I said, ‘We can’t run it again.’ He ran it again. I was like, ‘Jeez.’ But Bullard kept coming off the edge and was really impactful as a rusher, and the guys in the back end held up. So, I was really proud of those guys.”
Bullard finished with seven tackles, two sacks and numerous pressures. Coming into the game with an SEC-low 10 sacks, the Bulldogs totaled six in this game. They also had eight tackles for loss.
Georgia’s secondary was particularly impressive. Kelee Ringo recorded his first interception since that famous one in the national championship game and added seven tackles. Freshman safety Malaki Starks led all defenders with 10 tackles and a pass breakup.
Another ‘W’ for Stetson Bennett
With Saturday’s victory, Stetson Bennett improved to 23-3 as Georgia’s starting quarterback. That does not include the first game of the 2020 season, when Bennett came off the bench in the first quarter to rally the Bulldogs to a victory over Arkansas.
Bennett had a huge first half against Tennessee, throwing for 226 of his 257 yards in the game and two touchdowns. He was 17-of-25 passing and ran for his sixth touchdown of the season and a 13-yard scramble on a third-and-10 play.
“He’s a winner,” Smart said. “I mean, let’s be honest – the guy wins. The guy knows how to play the game. He understands what people are doing. … He sees the game. He understands it. He’s stubborn as (heck) sometimes, but he’s a competitor.”
After his scoring run, Bennett flashed a “call-me” telephone sign. Somehow his cell number was leaked to Tennessee fans who used it to call him all day and night on Friday. Bennett estimated he received “hundreds” of calls and texts. And no, he didn’t answer any.
“I just sat on them,” Bennett said with a grin. “Ate them.”
More injuries
Speaking of Bennett, Georgia starting outside linebacker and the team’s emotional leader Nolan Smith watched the game from the sideline wearing a duplicate of Bennett’s No. 13 jersey. While the Bulldogs were playing their first game without Smith, who suffered a torn pectoral muscle versus Florida, he cheered on and coached up his teammates from the sideline.
Smith also delivered a fiery pregame speech in a players-only meeting, according to several teammates.
“Make no mistake, we just didn’t have Nolan on the field,” Smart said. “He’s still there leading, and he’s still a difference-maker because of the kind of guy he is and the leader he is.”
Senior Robert Beal started in Smith’s absence, but Beal had to leave the game 40 seconds into the second half with an undisclosed injury. He was taken for X-rays, reportedly for a neck or upper-body injury, but Smart did not have an update after the game.
Split end A.D. Mitchell (ankle) didn’t play again, and redshirt sophomore Devin Willock got his first career start at left guard because Xavier Truss had to sit out with a toe injury. Outside linebacker Darris Smith (concussion) and several other players were held out.
“We were a beat-up football team coming into this game,” Smart said. “We had two O-linemen that really couldn’t go, didn’t practice all week. Ladd (McConkey) couldn’t go two days this week. ‘Beefy’ (Beal) went down during the game. Nolan was out. We had a lot of players dinged up, and a lot of guys stepped up to play for them.”
Brett Thorson’s punt
One of the most critical moments to Georgia winning the game came on a punt late in the first quarter. The Bulldogs were backed up at their 24-yard line when Brett Thorson, a freshman from Victoria, Australia, unleashed a high-arcing, bending punt toward the southeast corner of Dooley Field. The ball hit the ground around the 20, then bounded toward the end zone. It scooted out of bounds at the 1-yard line, with Georgia’s Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint right there to make sure it didn’t sneak across the goal line.
“I told him he worked it like a boomerang from Australia,” Smart said. “It was sidewinding. I kept saying get out of bounds. Get out of bounds. It was a (heck), a (heck) of a kick by him. That was a big momentum swing.”
The punt was Georgia’s longest since Drew Butler also hit a 75-yarder against Oklahoma State in 2009 and tied for the 10th longest in Georgia football history. The longest remains Spike Jones’ 87-yarder against Auburn in 1967.
Three plays later, with a net of zero offensive yards, Tennessee narrowly escaped a safety and fumble and had to punt the ball back. Taking over at the Vols’ 37, Georgia’s McConkey scored on a 37-yard pass from Bennett to take a 14-3 lead.
Honoring legends
UGA held a moment of silence for its fallen football heroes Vince Dooley and Charley Trippi before Saturday’s game.
A video tribute was shown on the Jumbotron, insignia for both men were painted on the sidelines that surround Dooley Field and the Bulldogs wore a special patch for Dooley on their jerseys and a black No. 62 decal on their helmets for Trippi.
Trippi, considered the greatest overall athlete to play football at Georgia, died Oct. 19 at the age of 100. Dooley, 1980 national championship coach and longtime athletic director, passed away Oct. 28 at the age of 90.
Dooley was buried Thursday at Oconee Hill Cemetery, which is next to Sanford Stadium. A U.S. Marine veteran, Dooley was honored by the U.S. Air Force with a four-jet “Missing Man” flyover during his interment.
