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Tennessee football at Georgia: 10 keys to the game

By Caleb Calhoun

Oct 3, 2020; Athens, Georgia, USA; A general view of the stadium prior to the game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 3, 2020; Athens, Georgia, USA; A general view of the stadium prior to the game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 26, 2020; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt celebrates after a touchdown against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 26, 2020; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt celebrates after a touchdown against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports /

These are the keys for the Tennessee football Volunteers and UGA Dawgs Saturday.

After rolling to a 2-0 start and extending their winning streak to eight games, tied for the longest in the nation, Tennessee football finally gets to test itself in a major way. Jeremy Pruitt’s team travels to Athens, Ga., to face the No. 3 ranked Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday.

Coming off a 35-12 win over the Missouri Tigers, the Vols have every reason to be confident about this game. We don’t know if they are ready to contend with the top tier of the SEC yet, but they have definitely turned a corner in Pruitt’s third year.

The Dawgs, meanwhile, just dominated the Auburn Tigers 27-6 in what was supposed to be a close game. After one bad half against the Arkansas Razorbacks, Kirby Smart’s team has been flawless for six straight quarters.

Given these facts, everybody still has the same question. Is Tennessee football truly ready to compete with the beasts of the East in Georgia and the Florida Gators? As 14-point underdogs, that’s what the Vols will set out to prove Saturday.

How can they do it? Well, that’s what we’re going to tackle in this post by looking at the keys to the game for both teams. At 2-0, each of them has shown similar strengths and weaknesses, suggesting Pruitt is building Rocky Top in Smart’s image at UGA.

That similarity has a huge impact on the factors that will determine this outcome. Given the style of play they both enjoy, you will see a lot of cliche things here. After all, these are coaches who have old-school ground and pound mentalities and don’t want to get flashy while trying to win.

What does that mean for the matchup? Who benefits the most in this situation? Let’s go ahead and break it down now. As Tennessee football tries to prove its not a pretender at the Georgia Bulldogs, here are the 10 keys to the game.

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