ATHENS, Ga. — There will be a new No. 1 in college football next week. It will be shocking if it isn’t the Georgia Bulldogs.
Again.
Five days after watching the College Football Playoff selection committee place them at No. 3 in their first evaluation of the 2022 season — and Tennessee at No. 1 — the Bulldogs settled the argument in convincing fashion with a 27-13 win over the Volunteers at packed-out, deafeningly-loud Sanford Stadium on Saturday.
The next CFP rankings won’t be released until Tuesday, and the defending national champions should be back on top again. No. 2 Ohio State won Saturday as well, but in much less impressive fashion, 21-7 over a 1-7 team from Northwestern. Beating the perceived No. 1 team, the Bulldogs answered the committee’s chief criticism — not enough quality wins over ranked teams. They already were ranked first by the media and the coaches.
Georgia now has two — 49-3 over No. 8 Oregon and a 14-point win over No. 1 Tennessee that was way more dominating than the final margin indicates. The Vols’ only touchdown came with 4:15 to play. The Bulldogs were content, perhaps too much so, to bleed out the clock in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs’ win was their sixth in a row over the Vols, having won the previous five by an average margin of 28.6 points.
It sets up Georgia well to make its fifth appearance in the past six years as the SEC Eastern Division champions under coach Kirby Smart. But there remains business to attend to.
The Bulldogs’ last two SEC games are on the road, on Saturday at Mississippi State and then Nov. 19 at Kentucky. But thanks to Saturday’s victory, Georgia would have to lose twice for the Vols to win out and reclaim the East.
Quarterback Stetson Bennett outshined Tennessee’s Heisman Trophy candidate Hendon Hooker, with 257 yards and two touchdowns on 17-of-24 passing. He completed throws to nine different receivers, including sophomore Ladd McConkey, who led all wideouts with five catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. Bennett also scored on a 13-yard run.
Tennessee, which came in averaging 553 yards, couldn’t manage half that. Hooker had only 160 yards passing and no touchdowns, and Georgia sacked him seven times. Coming in with 54 plays of 20 or more yards, the Vols had one Saturday, and it came after they were down by three scores late in the fourth quarter. Tennessee scored its only TD with 4:15 to play.
The Bulldogs reminded the committee and CBS’ national TV audience that defense, indeed, still matters. They entered the game leading the nation in fewest points allowed, at 10.5 per game. The 2021 national championship defense gave up only 10.2 per game.
Saturday’s matchup of the two highest-ranked teams ever to meet in Sanford Stadium certainly didn’t get started the way the Bulldogs had hoped. They turned the ball over on their opening possession, with running back Daijun Edwards fumbling and Tennessee safety Tamarion McDonald recovering at the Georgia 49.
But as it did throughout the first half, the Bulldogs’ defense stood tall. The Vols’ high-flying, quick-tempo offense could manage only 14 yards and had to settle for a 49-yard Chase McGrath field goal.
It quickly became all Georgia after that. Behind an explosive passing game displayed by quarterback Stetson Bennett, the Bulldogs recorded three touchdown drives before Tennessee would get another field goal.
The first one came after Bennett’s 53-yard completion to wideout Arian Smith set them up deep in Tennessee territory. Four plays later, Bennett found himself under pressure on a pass play. Evading the rush, Bennett found room outside right end and scored with a dive into the pylon that, strangely, initially was ruled short of the goal line. Video review awarded Bennett with the six points, and Georgia was quickly ahead 7-3.
Bennett would pass for the Bulldogs’ next two touchdowns on a 37-yard pass to Ladd McConkey and a 5-yard strike to Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint on third down. The latter was only an early example of the incredible proficiency with which Bennett and the Bulldogs converted third downs. They were 3 for 5 in the first half and 6 for 9 through three quarters.
Through the same span of time, the Vols were 1-for-9 on football’s money down. Through three quarters, Tennessee had recorded zero plays of 20 or more yards. It entered the game with 54 such plays.
That was dictated by a Georgia defense that was playing without senior outside linebacker Nolan Smith and lost his replacement Robert Beal only 40 seconds into the second half. More important, though, the Bulldogs did have junior defensive tackle Jalen Carter.
Carter had missed three games over four weeks with a sprained knee before returning for limited, third-down duty against Florida. Against Tennessee, Carter played pretty much every down. While he was out there, the big tackle from Apopka, Fla., recorded two sacks and forced two fumbles, including one in the end zone that had to be overruled by video review from being a safety. The Bulldogs, last in the SEC in quarterback sacks, had six Saturday.
Hooker, who was 19-of-26 passing for 140 yards after nine Tennessee possessions, lost the fumble when hit by Carter. But Tennessee guard Javontez Spraggins recovered and was ruled to have been out of the end zone when he fumbled it right at the goal line.
Seemingly important at the time, it wasn’t. Bennett simply hit McConkey with a strike down the middle of the field on first down from Georgia’s 37.
And so, the rout was on.
