Hand up.

I’m guilty of disrespecting the Tennessee defense. Heading into last week, I outlined all the struggles the Vols have had against the pass and why I thought that could benefit Kentucky’s capable downfield passing game.

Here I stand (I’m actually sitting) as a man willing to admit that he was wrong. Wrong I was to speak so negatively about the Vols’ passing defense. Every time Doneiko Slaughter and Byron Young took a soul on a Kentucky pass attempt, I felt like I was taking every bone-crushing hit.

They proved me wrong, along with anyone who repeatedly referenced the nation’s No. 130 pass defense (which is now up to No. 127).

Context is needed because if you’re a Georgia fan licking your lips at the thought of Stetson Bennett IV carving up Tennessee, I recommend not licking your lips while reading this column. That makes me uncomfortable.

Instead, I would recommend digging a bit deeper into why the Tennessee defense is not the liability some have made it out to be (myself included).

For starters, teams have attempted 349 passes against the Vols through 8 games. That’s the most of anyone in America. That makes sense given that Tennessee has the nation’s top scoring offense and it scores quicker than anyone in the sport. Having said that, the Vols have only allowed 6.9 yards per attempt, which is No. 51 in FBS. For a little context, Will Rogers averages 6.7 yards per attempt out of the Air Raid.

That shows why Tennessee really doesn’t get gashed by big plays as much as that total pass defense ranking would suggest. Tim Banks’ defense only surrendered 4 passing plays of 40 yards all year. That actually ranks tied for No. 33 in FBS (it’s 1 fewer than Alabama has allowed).

The Vols’ defense is even better at getting off the field on 3rd down. They rank No. 18 nationally with a 31% opposing 3rd-down conversion clip. Pretty good? Pretty good. And in the red zone, opponents only scored touchdowns 46.9% of the time, which also ranks No. 18 in FBS.

Still not convinced? OK, I’ve got more numbers.

The Vols, fresh off forcing Will Levis into his worst game at Kentucky, allowed an average quarterback rating of 124.4 in 8 games. That’s No. 40 in FBS. To make an individual comparison, that’s exactly what Spencer Rattler’s quarterback rating is in 2022.

So combine those things with the fact that Tennessee also boasts the nation’s No. 9 run defense in both yards/game and yards/carry, and yeah, one can see why the Vols aren’t exactly 2020 Ole Miss.

The raw numbers illustrate that, too. Many would probably be surprised that Tennessee only has 2 games in which it surrendered 28 points this year. That just so happened to be against Alabama and Florida, both of which were College GameDay showcase games with national audiences.

We saw some missed tackles and a lack of pressure on Anthony Richardson, and it told us that the Vols are a total liability on the back end. Losing Jaylen McCullough ahead of the Alabama game only magnified that narrative. He was back against Kentucky, by the way, though he only played 38 snaps compared to 47 for the aforementioned Slaughter and 52 for Trevon Flowers.

McCullough will be out there Saturday when Tennessee travels to face Georgia and its No. 6 scoring offense. Go figure that Tennessee will mark just the 2nd time this season that Georgia is facing a top-30 scoring defense. The first? Mizzou, which held the Dawgs without a touchdown for the first 50 minutes of action.

I thought Aaron Murray brought up a perfectly fair point recently on “SEC This Morning” about how Georgia shouldn’t want to get in a track meet:

Yep. That makes sense.

Here’s a question. When was the last time that Georgia played in a game that both teams scored 30 points? Nearly 5 years ago in the Rose Bowl. Here are all the games in which the Dawgs allowed 30 points in the Kirby Smart era:

  • 2016 at Ole Miss: L, 45-14
  • 2016 vs. Tennessee: L, 34-31
  • 2017 at Auburn: L, 40-17
  • 2017 vs. Oklahoma: W, 54-48 (2OT)
  • 2018 at LSU: L, 36-16
  • 2018 SEC Championship vs. Alabama: L, 35-28
  • 2019 SEC Championship vs. LSU: L, 37-10
  • 2020 at Alabama: L, 41-24
  • 2020 vs. Florida: L, 44-28
  • 2021 SEC Championship vs. Alabama: L, 41-24

That’s right. Georgia is 1-9 when it allows 30 points under Kirby Smart. It’s 73-6 when it holds teams to less than 30 points.

Meanwhile, Tennessee has 11 consecutive games with at least 34 points. That’s the longest active streak in America. The last team to hold the Vols to less than 34? Georgia last year. The Dawgs’ generational defensive front got past an overmatched Tennessee offensive line and sacked Hooker 5 times.

This year, Georgia is last in the SEC with just 10 sacks — the Dawgs also just lost top pass-rusher and senior captain Nolan Smith to a season-ending pec injury — while Tennessee has only allowed 13 sacks in 8 games, only 1 of which came against Will Anderson and that vaunted Alabama defensive front.

On the flip side, Tennessee ranks No. 4 in the SEC in sacks, though Georgia is No. 1 in the SEC and No. 6 in FBS with just 7 sacks allowed. That’s a strength-on-strength matchup, and not necessarily one that should be assumed to be in Georgia’s favor.

That’s sort of my point. There’s not a place where Georgia has some obvious advantage.

Well, maybe there is. After all, Smart is 26-1 in his past 27 games with the lone loss coming to the greatest coach of all time with the Heisman Trophy winner delivering one of the best individual performances of the past decade. Eight of those wins were against AP Top 25 teams and 5 came against top-10 foes.

Perhaps Smart and his staff dial up the winning formula against the Vols to add yet another notch on their ever-growing belt. Or perhaps Saturday shows that Georgia is mortal and that it’s somebody else’s year.

Whatever the case, this is an especially challenging, yet atypical matchup for Georgia.

There might not be a whole lot of lip-licking come Saturday.