Tennessee football: Five takeaways from Vols’ 41-17 loss to No. 1 Georgia

2. Georgia’s front seven dominated.

Speaking of the lost fumble, that was on one of the six times Hooker was sacked in this game. Tennessee football had the ball 3rd and 6 at the UGA 7-yard line, and although they were still down 34-10, they could have made it respectable here. However, Hooker couldn’t elude the pressure and then lost the ball on a fumble.

This was indicative of the whole game. In addition to the six sacks, the Vols couldn’t buy a rushing attack. On their second drive, they brought up a 2nd and 3 and ran it twice, including on 3rd and 1, and couldn’t convert the first down. This was a huge reason drives would stall.

Jabari Small finished the game with 12 carries for just 49 yards. Jaylen Wright was even worse, gaining only 14 yards on five carries. Hooker had one nice run on the opening drive, but by and large, all the designed run plays for him were failures.

There’s a simple explanation for this. Georgia’s front seven is that good. UT’s offensive line didn’t do anything to warrant lots of criticism, but that UGA defensive front, no matter how many people went down in the game, was just too deep and too elite.