The Cheat Sheet
The October gauntlet begins for the Vols with a road trip to Athens to take on the No. 2 Bulldogs as more than a four-touchdown underdog. What's key for the Vols to pull of an improbable upset? Here are four with The Cheat Sheet.
Survive the first quarter: The start of games have been a disaster offensively for the Vols. They do not have an offensive first quarter touchdown this season. They rushed for minus-17 yards in the first 15 minutes against West Virginia. They had 15 yards rushing against Florida in the first quarter. The bottom line is that the first quarter has been a nightmare for the Vols offensively. Tennessee has been outscored 24-13 in the first quarter while Georgia has been good to start games outscoring the opponents 55-14. The Vols must survive the opening 15 minutes.
Possess the football: Tennessee is minus-8 in the turnover margin in the last two games including the well-discussed six turnovers a week ago. The Vol offense must hold onto the football between the hedges. To have a chance to get it into the second half and make it a sixty minute game, Tennessee must limit the turnovers and must stay on the field. In other words, Tennessee needs to handily win time of possession which includes being much better in third and short after only converting 2 of 6 attempts last week. Shorten the game as much as they can. Now, they can't run it 80 percent of the time on first and second down, but Tennessee doesn't need to play in any kind of up tempo offense. And they must find a way to move the chains and extend drives. Something they haven't been able to do with any kind of consistency this season.
Limit big plays: In the loss to Florida, the Gators had three touchdown scoring drives of one play. On the year, Georgia has nine scoring drives of five plays or less. They have eight touchdown drives of less than 2 minutes and they have 22 plays of 25 yards or more. In other words, they can be explosive. In two games against Power 5 teams, the Vols have given up six touchdown passes of 25 yards or more. Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney likes to go vertical in the passing game and he will definitely try to attack Tennessee's secondary.
Get cheap points: To try and pull off an upset as a more than a four-touchdown underdog, you need as much help as possible. Tennessee needs Georgia to have a bad day. The Vols must force Georgia into mistakes. Tennessee has only forced 5 turnovers on the season. Jeremy Pruitt says they have dropped over a half dozen interceptions this year. When the opportunity presents itself, the Vols must take advantage of it whether it's on defense, on special teams or offensively if Georgia makes a mistake defensively.