Georgia should’ve beaten Tennessee last season, but you never know what can happen in college football until the clock is all zeroes.

On the final snap, Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs launched a Hail Mary into the end zone and connected with receiver Jauan Jennings, who made one of the plays of the year swimming in a sea of Bulldogs for the game-winning touchdown.

Just 10 seconds prior, UGA signal caller Jacob Eason made the throw of his life — his career between the hedges has taken an unexpected turn since — to hit wideout Riley Ridley for a 47-yard TD to take what was then a 31-28 lead. Eason-to-Ridley was supposed to be the game-winner, but Dobbs-to-Jennings made it 34-31 in favor of UT and silenced Sanford Stadium.

The two East rivals meet again Saturday, although the Dawgs and Vols are singing decidedly different tunes these days.

In Athens, coach Kirby Smart appears to have the team to beat in the East at 4-0. A bum knee for Eason opened the door for Jake Fromm to take over at QB, and the offense has improved as a result. The defense has been outstanding, too.

However, in Knoxville, coach Butch Jones has felt his seat get decidedly warmer — he has challenged both the fans and media lately — in recent weeks. Not only did Tennessee fail to live up to expectations in 2016, but it hasn’t played well this season despite its 3-1 record. A narrow escape from lowly UMass in Week 4 further frustrated Neyland Stadium.

Based on what we’ve seen from these clubs in 2017, it’s going to take more than a Hail Mary for the Volunteers to top Georgia again.

A narrow escape from lowly UMass in Week 4 further frustrated Neyland Stadium.

Momentum is so rare in sports, especially on the gridiron since there are fewer games and so much time between them. There’s little reason to believe that last year’s stunning finish between the hedges will have any sort of residual effect.

That being said, Jones can certainly turn on the tape from a season ago to elevate his players’ collective spirit after what has been a rough start. Remember, UT trailed the Bulldogs 17-0 late in the second and 24-14 early in the fourth — on the road, no less — yet found a way to emerge victorious. They’re at home this time, too.

Dobbs-to-Jennings was no accident, either. According to Jones, he practices game-ending situations like that every Thursday.

“I think it’s one of those plays where you can prepare for it,” Jones (below) said Wednesday on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference. “You can practice it all the time in practice, and whether you run it in a game situation or whether you run it in practice, you can run it five times in a row and I think the little nuances are always different.”

Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

Although there’s an obvious element of luck required to pull off a Hail Mary, the Vols did everything right on the play. Dobbs delivered the ball in the right spot. Jennings blocked out defenders with his 6-foot-3, 209-pound frame.

Jones was also quick to point out departed running back Alvin Kamara, who threw a key block — always an overlooked skill for a ball carrier — to buy Dobbs and Jennings the extra second or two they needed to get in position. It’s not like UGA made an egregious error. Tennessee simply executed, with a little help from the pigskin gods, of course.

“It starts with the protection up front. It starts with the trajectory of the football. It starts with the location of the football. It starts with the receivers using their bodies. It’s timing the jumps. There’s so many things that go into it. Some of it is luck. Some of it’s just practice and players stepping up and making plays.” -- Butch Jones

Still, Smart hasn’t lost a bunch of sleep trying to analyze what went wrong. He actually doesn’t agonize over it at all.

“I don’t think you ever forget about these moments where that kind of play comes up as you remembered,” he said. “You think about it when you see it in the NFL, a last-play Hail Mary or you see a game ending that way similar to the Tennessee-Florida one this year. That’s when it pops up, and it’s not something that resonates as we prepare for this game.”

There are only so many days of practice a coach has at his disposal. Only so many hours allowed by the NCAA. Only so many reps available for his players. It seems impossible to work on every situation that might come up on game day.

Jones admitted that sometimes he has to ask his team to perform a task it hasn’t really worked on in months — think of all those crazy overtimes Tennessee has been involved in on his watch — maybe going back to fall camp. Nevertheless, he has to prepare for every scenario, no matter how microscopic the odds that said scenario will present itself.

For every successful Hail Mary, countless attempts fall harmlessly to the ground. There’s a method to the madness, though.

“It starts with the protection up front,” Jones said. “It starts with the trajectory of the football. It starts with the location of the football. It starts with the receivers using their bodies. It’s timing the jumps. There’s so many things that go into it. Some of it is luck. Some of it’s just practice and players stepping up and making plays.”

Dobbs is currently in the NFL. So is Kamara. While Jennings is yet to move on to the next level, he suffered a wrist injury in the opener and is out for the rest of the season. The Volunteers will have new heroes if they pull off the upset in Week 5.

Naturally, if all goes according to plan, the Dawgs should be comfortably ahead on the scoreboard in the final moments and won’t have to worry about another last-second lightning strike. They just blew out what we thought was a pretty dangerous Mississippi State program — seriously, who saw 31-3 coming? — and have a much healthier roster.

But just in case, it’s safe to assume that Smart set aside a period here and there this week for Hail Mary defense.