KNOXVILLE, Tenn. _ It was harder than anybody expected it to be, but the No. 3-ranked Georgia Bulldogs surged late to remain undefeated _ for the season and for the past 15 games against the SEC East _ with a 43-14 win over Tennessee on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.
The Bulldogs trailed 14-10 in the first half and gave up 239 yards in the process. But they rallied with 354 yards of their own and scored twice in the final two minutes of the half to take control of the game at 26-14.
Georgia got the ball to start the second half and, while all it mustered was Rodrigo Blankenship's third field goal of the night in the third quarter, the 29:32 to 15:28 time of possession disparity had taken its toll on the Volunteers.
By the time Brian Herrien scored on a one-yard plunge to cap a 10-play drive with 8:02 to play, UT was completely gassed. Georgia made it a blowout when cornerback Eric Stokes' sack set up a 60-yard, scoop-and-score touchdown by linebacker Tae Crowder with 4:39 remaining. Another huge contingent of UGA fans was there to witness it.
With the victory, the Bulldogs improved to 4-0 and 2-0 in the East. They haven't lost to an Eastern Division foe since losing to Florida 24-10 in October of 2016. Georgia plays host to South Carolina next Saturday at noon at Sanford Stadium.
Tennessee (1-4, 0-2 SEC), in its second year under former Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, is off to its worst start since 1988.
Quarterback Jake Fromm played one of his best games as a Bulldog. The junior from Warner Robins passed for 288 yards, the fourth best total of his career, and completed 24 of his first 29 passes before Georgia moved to running out the clock. Fromm's favorite targets on this night were Lawrence Cager (5-58) and D'Andre Swift (4-72) with nine catches between them. The Bulldogs rolled up 529 yards of offense.
Georgia's depth started paying dividends in the first half as the Bulldogs came from behind to take a 26-14 lead into the locker room. Georgia scored 16 unanswered points after falling behind 14-10.
The last two touchdown drives came in the final 1:59 of the half with Fromm flourishing in the two-minute offense. Touchdown passes of three yards to Cager and seven to freshman George Pickens capped scoring drives that took 2:03 and 50 seconds.
In between came a scoring chance by the Vols, however. But place-kicker Brent Cimaglia missed his first field goal attempt of the season, this one from 49 yards away.
The issue for Georgia was on the defensive side of the ball, where it gave up a season-high 239 yards in the first half. All of it came under the direction of true freshman Brent Maurer, who got his first career start at quarterback over fourth-year junior Jarrett Guarantano. The Vols doubled down on the risky move by choosing the ball first after winning opening coin toss.
It looked like reckless strategy when the Vols had to punt after four plays. Then Georgia proceeded to drive 84 yards in 12 plays for the first score of the game on a Swift one-yard run at the 7:07 mark.
But then Tennessee showed why Maurer was starting. On second-and-eight, Maurer hit a wide-open Marquez Callaway for a 73-yard touchdown. Cornerback D.J. Daniel bit on a double move and safety Richard LeCounte was late in coming over from midfield on what would be the Vols' longest scoring play since 2015.
That was the first of two 75-yard scoring drives directed by the freshman from Ocala and sandwiched around a 50-yard field goal by Blankenship. UT's second scoring drive took plays and was helped by a late-hit call on Georgia's David Marshall. Jauan Jennings's caught a 12-yard pass to make it 14-10.
The Vols would roll up 239 yards in the first half. But the Bulldogs had 354, a season high. They got them with a heavy dose of Swift, who had 17 touches for 139 yards, including four for 72 yards receiving. Fromm was 16 of 20 for 195 yards and two touchdowns in the half.
