Defense
Tennessee’s defense was the most promising aspect for the Vols against Georgia. The unit provided a pass-rush, something that was non-existent in the previous four games. As a result, the Vols forced four Georgia fumbles despite not being able to fall on any.
Darrell Taylor played his best game as a Vol, picking up three sacks, two forced fumbles, and two tackles for a loss. Taylor also received help from his fellow defensive linemen, Kyle Phillips and Alexis Johnson. The pair of seniors combined for 14 tackles. As a group, they pressured Jake Fromm 11 times.
While Tennessee’s pass-rush improved, it still wasn’t enough, as Fromm didn’t face pressure 17 different times. As a result, Fromm completed 16 of his 22 passes for 185 yards. When Tennessee didn’t blitz, Fromm was 7-of-9 for 67 yards, and when Tennessee got pressure, Fromm was 8-of-11 for 76 yards.
Tennessee’s pass rush consisted of:
Three-man: 2
Four-man: 36
Five-man: 27
Six-man: 6
Seven-man: 1
DB blitzes: 11
A huge part of Fromm’s success was due to the lack of coverage from Tennessee’s secondary. The Vols had good coverage just seven times, while producing poor coverage on 19 snaps. Georgia took advantage of Tennessee’s soft coverage by having Fromm get the ball out quickly on the majority of his throws.
Tennessee showed signs of improvement from its pass-rush but really struggled to stop the run. Georgia’s offensive line consistently blew the Vols off the ball on the way to 251 rushing yards. On 50 carries, the Dawgs averaged 5.0 yards per rush. A product of running the ball at will, it set up very manageable third downs for Fromm, where he was 2-for-4, for 31 yards.
Part of Georgia’s success in the rushing game was due to Tennessee’s poor tackling. The Vols missed 23 tackles, a season-high. Multiple Tennessee defenders missed multiple tackles.
