Tennessee suffered a 41-0 beat down at the hands of No. 7 Georgia on Saturday. Anyone who watched the game or even just looks at the box score knows that the Vols’ loss on Saturday was downright dreadful.
But how bad was the loss exactly?
The Vols’ loss to Georgia this weekend was historically bad. Not only was that the first time the Vols had been shut out since a 31-0 loss to Florida in 1994, but it was the first time Georgia had shut out the Vols since a 44-0 loss in 1981. The 41-point margin of defeat was the second-largest defeat the Bulldogs have handed the Vols in the series history. The only one worse was that 44-0 shut out in 1981.
Tennessee’s 41-0 loss was the worst loss the Vols had sustained since they traveled to Oregon and lost 59-14 in 2013. It also marked the fourth-largest loss in school history. The only games in which Tennessee lost by more points were in 2011 to Arkansas (49-7), the aforementioned 44-0 loss to Georgia in 1981, and a 59-13 loss to Oregon in 2013.
This loss was the largest Tennessee had suffered since that loss to Oregon in 2013, and it’s the second-largest loss in the Butch Jones era.
The one thing those other huge losses had in common were that they occurred on the road. Tennessee’s 41-0 loss to Georgia on Saturday was the Vols’ worst shutout loss at home since they were pummeled 45-0 by Vanderbilt all the way back in 1905. That was 112 years ago.
Georgia’s shutout victory marked only the eighth time since the 1969 season that Tennessee had been kept scoreless in a loss. Six of those seven other losses were also to SEC schools with the lone exception being a 13-0 defeat at the hands of UCLA in 1978.
Tennessee totaled just 142 yards of offense and failed to reach the red zone a single time on Saturday. Georgia dominated from start to finish in the game, and it will truly go down as one of the worst losses in modern day history for the Vols.
