These are the key Tennessee football Volunteers in Athens, Ga. at the UGA Dawgs.
To call this college football season “different” would be a dull understatement of the unfamiliar environment we find ourselves in every Saturday. But, to say that the undefeated and No. 14 ranked Tennessee football Vols don’t look different this year would be flat-out ridiculous.
Now 2-0 after a 35-12 win over the Missouri Tigers, the Vols will face their biggest challenge to date as they travel to Athens, Ga. to face the No. 3 ranked Georgia Bulldogs. UGA just came off a huge 27-6 win over the Auburn Tigers.
Historically, the two schools have met a combined 49 times with the Dawgs leading the all-time series 24-23 with two ties. Recently, however, Tennessee football has been abysmal against its division rivals.
Since the turn of the century, Big Orange Country has only been on the winning side of six contests, their last win being the famous Joshua Dobbs to Jauan Jennings hail-mary heave back in 2016. Since that moment, the Vols have lost their last three games to Georgia by a combined score of 122-26. It’s safe to say that’s not ideal.
With Rocky Top’s win over Mizzou, head coach Jeremy Pruitt has led the Vols to eight straight victories continuing from last season, the longest streak among Power Five teams. UT has established a fierce rushing attack with Ty Chandler and Eric Gray. The former currently sits atop the SEC as the rushing leader, averaging 88 yards per game.
Though the Bulldogs have opened as 14-point favorites over the Vols heading into Saturday, a few key players can give them a shot at escaping with a major upset victory on the road. Last week, the players we told you to watch for against Missouri accounted for 135 yards, 10 tackles, and two touchdowns.
Let’s go ahead and take a look at which players could give Rocky Top that unlikely opportunity on Saturday. These are the five key Vols to keep an eye on when Pruitt and Tennessee football visits the Georgia Bulldogs.