clt28203

Once the game was effectively over, the nails were already in the coffins, etc., I then began pulling for 60+ points - 63 happened to work nicely. I'm sure Tennessee fans can understand; it was the Tennessee defense's job to stop them from scoring, after all.

Six 5yd false starts and an alignment penalty aren't responsible for the level of output that we saw. Side note, Georgia had more penalty yards than UT. The rain cuts both ways - my feeling is that Georgia was most interested in shortening the game but there's nothing to indicate that they couldn't have scored another 24-28 in the second half. The points/yardage for the entire game appear to be respectable but the first half was a blowout. The neutral field angle? UT really want Alabama again? Crowd noise doesn't hurt but crowd noise accounted for exactly 0 touchdowns and 0 passes defended on Nov 5.

The perfect storm for TN maintaining a somewhat respectable score was a) the fact that the game was in hand at the Half and b) the fact that the game was in hand at the Half. To blame the rain for not being able to bomb their way out of a three score deficit in the third quarter is wishful thinking. The real gift was the rain showing up to provide an excuse for not doing so. You think Georgia ran a 8-9min scoring drive in the third because all they could come up with was 3yds and a cloud of mud? The game was effectually over, burn clock, don't get injured, go home and move on. Some teams don't value scoring 66 against hapless competition.