KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It’s the happiest Halloween in Knoxville since 1998. The Volunteers, formerly sheet ghosts wandering the SEC, are looking like the monster of the conference. Come Saturday, we’ll find out if that’s their true form or just a costume.
Welcome back to national prominence, Tennessee. The No. 2 Volunteers – there’s something that hasn’t happened since 2001 – are a pristine 8-0. Their offense tops the nation in scoring, yards and efficiency. Their overshadowed defense ranks No. 9 nationally against the run and fourth among SEC teams in sacks. Their résumé is stacked with quality wins.
Getting this next one, though, will be the toughest yet. The Volunteers travel to Athens to face the reigning national champions. The Bulldogs, also 8-0, have lost one game over the past two years. They’re built on defense, possessing personnel that should challenge quarterback Hendon Hooker and the Volunteers’ offense in ways it hasn’t faced.
“We’re playing a great opponent; they have great personnel in all three phases of the game and they’re well coached,” Tennessee coach and offensive guru Josh Heupel said. “Huge test for us. We’re looking forward to the week.”
This is the most important game of the season to date. It’s No. 1 vs. No. 2. It’s a classic SEC rivalry in one of America’s best college venues. It could determine the Heisman Trophy winner; Hooker is the front-runner and could basically clinch the award with a dynamic showing.
The winner, barring a stunning setback, is beautifully positioned for the College Football Playoff even if it lost in the SEC Championship game. The loser could still qualify, though that’d come down to the wire. With a victory, the Volunteers would push their season into euphoric territory. If Georgia wins, it continues a perfect title defense and comfortably sits atop the rankings.
Georgia is close to an Alabama 2.0. They’re accustomed to these games, even if they don’t play many of them on the schedule. The Volunteers just dipped their toes in relevant waters earlier in the year. Their victory over Alabama in October was a cannonball into the deep end.
Some records deceive, especially in a sport in which over half the good teams’ slate is comprised of have- nots. But Tennessee’s mark, which is its best start since its championship season in 1998, is conceiving. It owns five victories over ranked teams at the time of the contest.
How they reached this point: Two weeks after narrowly escaping then-No. 17 Pittsburgh with an overtime win, the Volunteers outgunned the Gators, 38-33. If one isn’t aware of the recent history between those schools, that was significant. Florida has owned Tennessee. It was only the Volunteers’ second victory over the Gators since 2005 – and it felt that important. It was a springboard into the meat of a daunting schedule.
The Volunteers have won their past four games by an average of 27 points. That includes dismantling an LSU team that’s apparently not so bad, 40-13. That includes a 52-49 thriller against Alabama, which had topped the Volunteers 15 consecutive years.
Then, in the final tuneup before facing Georgia, Tennessee ripped Kentucky to shreds, 44-6, over the weekend. The Volunteers could’ve come out a little flat. If one believes teams sometimes falter in looking ahead, this was a prime chance for Tennessee to do just that.
Instead, they treated that game like all the others. Their offense was spectacular as usual. The defense looked formidable, embarrassing Wildcats quarterback Will Levis, whose draft stock should suffer. Kentucky is a respectable SEC program and had zero answers while Tennessee scored 37 consecutive points.
Hooker is the engineer, following the Joe Burrow path of unknown transfer to SEC sensation. Hooker lost his starting job at Virginia Tech and found his way to Tennessee, where he’s blossomed under Heupel and emerged into perhaps the country’s best quarterback. He has 57 total touchdowns to only four interceptions over the past two seasons.
Tennessee’s quick-firing offense is averaging almost 50 points per contest (49.4). It produces 553 yards of total offense in each game at a nation-best 198.51 passing efficiency. Tennessee throws for 353.4 yards per game (second best in the country). Check any offensive stat and Hooker’s group is near the top.
“The biggest thing for me was just understanding what the coaches wanted to accomplish and what plays,” Hooker said of his emergence. “Being very decisive in my decision-making, communicating at a high level. The first thing is you have to communicate at a high level to make sure we’re on the same page so that we’re moving fast and efficiently as well. I just want to get the ball to the playmakers and let them do what they do.”
While the Volunteers have torched some quality defenses, they haven’t faced Georgia’s. One would think the Bulldogs would provide more resistance, especially after watching Alabama’s downfall. But the Volunteers producing points feels inevitable; it’s a matter of making it difficult, creating breaks, winning in those red-zone and third-and-fourth down situations.
“They’re athletic, they can run, all three levels,” Heupel said of Georgia’s defense. “They’re physical on all three levels. They don’t have any busts. They play their assignments extremely well. They make you earn it. It’s a great test for us. You’re going to have to win one-on-ones. That’s out on the perimeter, the offensive line, in the trenches, and you’re going to have to sustain drives.”
That’s what makes Saturday even more intriguing. It’s a battle of strengths – Tennessee’s offense vs. Georgia’s defense – with No. 1 on the line.
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