Georgia will be without one of its biggest offensive stars to face Tennessee

Game time is almost here for the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers going up against the No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs. This is something people can't wait for, as SEC title game hopes and College Football Playoff implications are on the line.

For Tennessee, everyone is waiting to see if quarterback Nico Iamaleava will be able to play or not. If he can't suit up, backup Gaston Moore will be leading the offense. On the other side of things, Georgia already knows it will be without one of its top offensive weapons.

On Thursday night, news broke that standout running back Trevor Etienne will officially be OUT to take on the Vols due to an injury. This is a massive blow for the Bulldogs and now more pressure is going to be placed on Carson Beck.

Georgia RB Trevor Etienne has been ruled out to take on the Vols

Over the past two weeks, the Georgia offense has looked incredibly sluggish. Now, they're going to have to take on a stingy Tennessee defense with Etienne not able to suit up? That's going to be a major problem for head coach Kirby Smart to try and overcome.

There's indeed going to be extra pressure on Beck to step up, but not a lot of people in Athens have a ton of faith in him to deliver for this team right now. He looked rough against Florida two weeks ago and then his performance vs. Ole Miss in Week 11 was tough to watch.

Etienne leads UGA with his 477 rushing yards in 2024, with seven touchdowns. Nate Frazier is second on the team with 333 yards and three scores. With the top Georgia RB out, Frazier is going to now see significant playing time against Tennessee.

Meanwhile for the Vols, Dylan Sampson is in the middle of a historic season for Josh Heupel and he's going to be ready to show the rest of the country he deserves some Heisman love. This is a primetime matchup, with millions of people getting ready to watch this action on ABC. Not having Etienne available should have plenty of Georgia fans a bit concerned.