For a half, it looked like Tennessee may pull the upset in Athens as the Volunteers were up 21-17 at halftime.

That lead didn’t last very long.

Tennessee came apart in the second half thanks to three turnovers and a lack of a running game against Georgia’s stingy defense. Tennessee ended up with a total of -1 yard rushing by the end of the game (thanks to sacks).

Georgia dominated the second half, winning 44-21.

After the game, here is what Jeremy Pruitt had to say about the game.

Pruitt’s opening statement:

“You can’t turn the ball over 3 times and expect to win, against anyone, we turned the ball three times. In the second half, once for a defensive score, two times I don’t even think they got a first down and kick field goes. So there’s 13 points there that really changed the game.

“Made a lot of mistakes on the defensive side, especially on third down. You know it’s and that’s not on anybody else, that’s on me. I learned a long time ago that you got to be able to do what you players can do and if they can’t do it, you got to do a better job coaching them up and I’ve got to do a better job doing that.”

Pruitt on why Tennessee used some many timeouts on the defensive side of the ball:

“Well, there was a couple of times we didn’t have the right personnel on the field we had a few guys that got hurt. Now, sometimes, you want to look and see what the other teams do and if it’s a critical part of the game. I felt like there was two times tonight that we use timeouts when maybe we didn’t want to, but we probably thought it was the best thing to do.”

Pruitt on Tennessee’s issues running the ball:

“We didn’t run the ball very well at all. Didn’t seem to get in rhythm offensively. We created a couple of big throws there, but to win in this league, you have to be able to run the ball, and we didn’t run the ball tonight. And it’s tough to win that way when you become one dimensional.”

Pruitt on if he felt Tennessee had momentum at halftime after stopping Georgia on the goal line:

“Well, I mean, I didn’t feel like we played real sharp defensively, just made a lot of mistakes, especially on third down, let the the quarterback out of the pocket. Game them first downs on on penalties. One I think was a third and 14 that they ended up getting a first down.

“We were sitting there with a lead at halftime, you know, you got to go play the second half and we had an opportunity to do that. We turned the ball over twice there. I thought the defense really done a nice job holding on to field goals but we never we never could sustain it.”