The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: vs. Georgia

The Tennessee Volunteers (7-4, 3-4) had a rough outing against Georgia on Saturday evening, and we have the good, the bad, and the ugly from their performance.

There are a bunch of takeaways from Saturday’s game against the Georgia Bulldogs for the Tennessee Volunteers. There is a mixture of good, bad, and ugly throughout the night, and I’m here to break down each.

The Good: 1st Play

Let’s start with the good first and get that out of the way. The first thing that comes to mind is the game's first play when running back Jaylen Wright struck first on a 75-yard rushing touchdown to get his team on the board. This is not the longest touchdown of the season for the junior back this year, but it was definitely one of, if not the most electrifying, run of the season. He had perfect blocks, which led to a huge hole that he read immediately and attacked the open gap with a full burst of speed that ended in 6 points. Overall, the run game as a whole did not disappoint, as the Volunteers averaged around 5.2 yards per carry and had the only touchdown of the night. It is also important to note that after the 90-yard performance from Wright, he is now less than 100 yards away from breaking through to the 1,000-yard season mark. 

The Bad: Passing Attack

The first thing that jumps to mind is the inconsistency of the passing attack throughout the night. Quarterback Joe Milton III faced a huge test against a top-ranked Georgia defense. He had 147 passing yards on 30 attempts, of which only 17 were completed. You saw Milton take a few deep shots, none of which connected. The longest pass of the game that was completed was a 21-yarder that went to wide receiver Chas Nimrod. 

The Ugly: The Injury Bug

The worst part has to be the injury bug. The tide has changed as the Vols went from being mostly healthy to mostly banged up. Many players for the Volunteers are already banged up, including Dont'e Thornton, Bru McCoy, Wesley Walker, Kamal Hadden, Keenan Pili, Arion Carter, and more. During this game, Tennessee had more players go down, including Javontez Spraggins, which is nothing less than a huge loss for the Volunteers. Tennessee will only hope to stay healthy as Vanderbilt comes to town and as bowl season approaches quickly.

Tennessee Volunteers RB Jabari Small during the loss to Georgia. (Photo by Randy Sartin of USA Today Sports)

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