Tennessee enters the month of October disappointed and full of more questions than anyone expected. The first question is quarterback play. What’s Jeremy Pruitt’s plan to improve production to give his team a chance? How does Jim Chaney generate production offensively?

The problem for the Vols this week isn’t just their offensive struggles. It’s the defense they are going against. Georgia is only giving up 10 points a game. They are allowing 57 yards a game on the ground and have recorded 12 sacks. So the challenge for the Vol offense is daunting.

Defensively, Tennessee is giving up 154 yards a game on the ground. Meanwhile, Georgia runs the football as well as anyone in the country. The Bulldogs are averaging 253 yards rushing a game.

Georgia has scored 21 touchdowns while only allowing 4 touchdowns a game.

In other words, Tennessee has a huge challenge as a three-touchdown underdog.

Georgia 38 Tennessee 13

Let’s face it, nobody is giving Tennessee a shot in this game. Georgia is more talented and honestly just in a more stable spot at the moment. They are more stable at quarterback and that’s worth its weight in gold.

Brian Maurer gets his first start and while it could mean a lower floor, I believe it presents Jim Chaney with more options. His ability to move around goes a long way to avoiding certain pressures.

The Vols are painfully thin at inside linebacker and I would expect Jake Fromm to try and exploit the inside linebackers the way Florida did two weeks ago. He just knows how to keep the defense on its heels for a pure pocket passer.

The Vols will make some plays and slow the game down but I just don’t think they will get enough stops.

Georgia 34 Tennessee 16

I expect Jeremy Pruitt & Co., to have a sound plan, play hard after the bye week and to shorten the game early, but the Vols don’t have the depth to sustain four quarters against UGA’s mash-ball scheme.

This is far and away the most complete team Tennessee will have faced this year — and possibly the rest of the season. Alabama is more explosive and can score on a whim, but UGA is balanced across the board. Outside of receiver, which might just be a push, the Vols don't have a single positional edge in this matchup.

This is not an ideal situation to toss a true freshman quarterback into the mix, either, but Brian Maurer is going to have an opportunity to showcase his skills against a really good defense. He needs help though, so if the Vols can’t generate any sort of ground game, this one could get ugly early.

Tennessee's best chance to make this is a game is to muck it up early, get Maurer moving around and force a turnover or two and convert red zone trips into touchdowns. An upset Saturday would buy Pruitt enough goodwill to last the rest of the year.

I don’t see it happening, though.

Georgia 38, Tennessee 10

I have a hard time finding anything to like about this matchup from the Tennessee perspective. I think the Vols are going to be hard pressed to move the football no matter whose under center on offense. It sounds more and more like there’s a good chance that Maurer is going to start, or at least play a lot. Outside of the game being at home it’s tough to imagine a tougher spot for a freshman to be put in.

Ideally if you’re going to play a young quarterback you want to be able to take some pressure off of him with your ground game. I see no way that Tennessee is able to do that against Georgia’s front seven.

On the other side of the ball, I’ll be surprised if the Vols are able to hold the Bulldogs under their 253 yard average on the ground. I think you’ll see Tennessee have to sell out to stop the run which will open up the play action game for Fromm, an area he excels and they have the receivers to stretch the field.

Barring some huge special teams plays and multiple turnovers from the visitors this looks like it could be a long afternoon for the guys in orange.

Georgia 45, Tennessee 16