Georgia’s Week 6 trip to Tennessee is one that will haunt the No. 19 Bulldogs for a long, long time. Things started out terrible for Georgia, losing star running back Nick Chubb on the game’s first play from scrimmage and only marginally improved from there. Tennessee outplayed Georgia, erasing a 21-point deficit in the process, to stun the Bulldogs 38-31 in a raucous Neyland Stadium. The Vols’ win is an enormous one for a team lacking that closer mentality, while the loss for Georgia might very well signal the end of a once-promising season.

5 TAKEAWAYS

  1. Nick Chubb suffered a brutal knee injury on the game’s first play from scrimmage that was as devastating as it was cruelly ironic. Georgia lost running back Keith Marshall to a knee injury two years ago during the Bulldogs’ last trip to Neyland Stadium. With Marshall out, Chubb inherited the role of Todd Gurley’s back-up in 2014 and never looked back en route to a record-setting career after just 19 games. It was Marshall and Sony Michel who picked up the slack with Chubb out in Week 6 against Tennessee. Michel rushed for a career-high 145 yards and Marshall added another 24 yards on 5 carries, but Georgia rushed only for 165 yards as a team in Chubb’s absence — about 80 yards less than their 245.8 YPG average entering the week.
  2. Josh Dobbs was the difference in this game. The Tennessee quarterback victimized Georgia with a taste of their own medicine, using screen passes and quick routes to throw for a career-high 312 yards and 3 touchdowns. It was the iconic performance that both the junior and Volunteer head coach Butch Jones sorely needed on their résumés. Like Dobbs, Greyson Lambert’s afternoon wasn’t always the most fluid, with errant and mistimed throws. But the fellow junior signal-caller had the Bulldogs in the game until the very last play, throwing for the second-most yards in a single game (279) in his career and two long touchdowns of 48 and 28 yards.
  3. The Georgia defense surrendered 38 points for the second-straight week, thanks to poor tackling and a defense that couldn’t contain Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs, who led UT in passing and rushing (125 yards). The Bulldogs couldn’t take advantage of a thin Volunteer offensive line that, at times, was forced to play two freshman. Butch Jones’ squad ran an impressive 90 plays against Georgia’s defense. The biggest punch came late in the second quarter as the Georgia defense (and a Sony Michel kick-off fumble) allowed Dobbs to guide the Vols to two touchdowns in 37 seconds to pull within a score at the half time. Tennessee went on to score 27 unanswered points on the Bulldogs.
  4. Reggie Davis gets a game ball (see below), buuut…The Georgia wide receiver earned his first-career multiple touchdown game with a dazzling 70-yard punt return score and a 48-yard reception. Davis finished with 101 yards receiving and a game-high 244 all-purpose yards. But the junior was a bit of a goat, dropping a sure 56-yard touchdown pass that essentially plunked down right in his hands near the Tennessee five-yard line with under four minutes to play and Georgia trailing 38-31. Much like Week 6, Davis will likely be trying his best to forget about that one.
  5. Georgia was the presumptive favorite to win the SEC East, but consecutive losses have tarnished those hopes by the season’s midway point. The Bulldogs are winless in their two biggest tests of the season (Alabama and Tennessee) and now trail Florida by two games in the division. It doesn’t get much easier for Mark Richt’s squad with difficult road trips to face the Gators, Auburn and Georgia Tech looming in the second half of the year. Much worse in Athens…the “Mark Richt can’t win the big game” whispers are getting louder, whether justifiable or not.

REPORT CARD

Offense: C – After losing Nick Chubb on the first play of the first quarter, the Georgia offense went on to score touchdowns on the first plays of the second and fourth quarters. All told, the Bulldogs finished with 444 yards of total offense. One bright spot, the Georgia offensive line held Tennessee to a lone tackle-for-loss, a Derek Barnett sack.

Defense: C – The Georgia defense scored a dynamic touchdown on Leonard Floyd’s 96-yard fumble recovery, but gave up 519 yards of total offense. The defense failed to stop Tennessee on two vital fourth downs late in the second quarter with the Vols rapidly stealing momentum away from the Bulldogs.

Special Teams: A – Reggie Davis made the play of the day with a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown (with a little help from a missed blocking call).

Coaching: D – Mental mistakes (see Game Plan) plagued Mark Richt; miscues that can’t be blamed on the loss of running back Nick Chubb.

Overall: C – Losing Chubb hurt, but the Bulldogs are deep at running back. At the end of the day, Georgia blew a 21-point lead and will need to look in the mirror for some soul searching moving forward.

GAME PLAN

The game plan hit a snag on the first play with Chubb — the nation’s third-leading rusher entering Week 6 — knocked out of the game. A seemingly shell-shocked Georgia struggled to move the ball in the first quarter, but awoke in the second to go up 24-3. While Georgia fought to the game’s final play, it was mental mistakes such as multiple 12-men on the field penalties, like the one called with six seconds left to play, that ultimately doomed the Bulldogs. Getting flagged once for too-many-men is one thing, but multiple infractions gets blamed on the coaching staff and is inexcusable with the game on the line and the team out of timeouts.

GAME BALLS

  • RB Sony Michel: 22 carries, 145 rushing yards, 26 receiving yards
  • OLB Leonard Floyd: 6 tackles, FR, 96-yard fumble-return touchdown
  • WR Reggie Davis: 101 receiving yards, Rec. TD, Punt Return TD, 73 return yards, 244 all-purpose

INJURY UPDATE

  • The nightmare came true when Nick Chubb went down with a horrific-looking leg injury on the first play from scrimmage. The Georgia running back was attempting to rush for a program-record 14th-straight 100-yard performance to break Herschel Walker’s old mark when he suffered what appeared to be a ghastly hyperextended left knee. Chubb lost consciousness on the sidelines while being transported. Trainers stabilized him and the sophomore was able to finish the game from a table on the sidelines with a heavily-iced leg. Time will tell the extent of the damage, although Georgia head coach Mark Richt apparently thinks the injury isn’t as bad as it looked. If you do look, be warned, the injury is pretty grisly and not for the faint of heart.
  • Jordan Jenkins got the start in the JACK slot, but a groin or hip injury (Richt and Defensive Coordinator Jeremy Pruitt give conflicting accounts) limited him to less than half of the team’s plays. The Bulldogs’ sack leader didn’t register a tackle on the afternoon and has apparently been dealing with the medical issue for a few weeks now.