Kirby Smart and Josh Heupel both know the Georgia vs. Tennessee series has been dominated by the Bulldogs recently. The Vols are looking to change that with a lot on the line in Week 12, and the first half has not disappointed.

Tennessee ran out of the gate with a 10-0 stretch in the first quarter, but a blowout did not develop before the break. Georgia responded with a pair of passing touchdowns from Carson Beck before Dylan Sampson ran in a touchdown from 27 yards out to give the Vols a 17-14 lead.

Beck and the Bulldog offense would have enough time to get into field goal range and even had some shots at the end zone, but Georgia was left to settle for a game-tying kick to make it 17-all at the break.

Heading into the locker rooms, Smart was asked about the performance of Beck who has battled turnover issues this season. However, the head coach said Saturday’s first half is what he’s used to seeing from the quarterback.

“He’s playing like he always does to me. He’s poised, he’s got composure, he’s a leader, he’s got a big job,” Smart said.

As for his biggest issue, Smart acknowledged Georgia is not stopping the run effectively. The Vols averaged 4.4 yards per carry, and Smart’s biggest issue is yards after contact.

“One thing you can do is tackle him,” said Smart about slowing down Sampson. “He’s getting yards after contact… They’re running the ball really good, they’re good at running the ball and we didn’t do a good job stopping the run that half. You’ve got to stop the run against these guys.”

As for Heupel, he was asked about maintaining the momentum, but he said it’s all about Tennessee being “assignment sound” across the board:

“We’ve just got to play assignment sound in all 3 phases of the game. It’s going to be a great contest in the 2nd half, we need to come out and start fast,” said Heupel.

Heupel is looking for his first win in the rivalry series while Smart is riding a string of 7 straight wins over Tennessee with all 7 wins coming by double digits. We’ll see if the second-half performance of both teams is able to buck that trend.