Tennessee football: Five reasons Vols could upset Georgia

4. Georgia is more prone to penalties.

Through two games, Jeremy Pruitt has made sure Tennessee football is much more disciplined than Kirby Smart has made sure of the Georgia Bulldogs. In the type of game we may be expecting on Saturday, that could end up being a huge deal.

So far, the Vols are tied with the Missouri Tigers for the third least penalized team in the SEC with only nine. That’s tied with a bunch of teams nationally at No. 10. UT’s 35 penalty yards per game is the 15th fewest nationally and fifth fewest in the SEC.

By contrast, the Georgia Bulldogs are the most penalized team in the SEC in every way. They have the most penalties in general with 20 and their 83.5 penalty yards per game are the most of any team in the league as well.

Simply put, Rocky Top is one of the best in the SEC at not being penalized, and Georgia is the absolute worst. Now, it is fair to say that UGA’s opener against the Arkansas Razorbacks skewed things, as they had 12 penalties for 108 yards. It got much better against the Auburn Tigers with eight penalties for 59 yards.

However, both of those are more penalties and penalty yards than the Vols have had in either of their first two games. As a result, while UGA may be more talented, UT may be more disciplined. That could be a huge deal if this game gets close. One or two crucial penalties could sway the game in a big way.