What Tennessee Can Use from Win over Georgia for Rest of 2015 Season

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Ever since last year's dramatic, come-from-behind overtime win over South Carolina, the Tennessee Volunteers football team has been waiting on that version of Joshua Dobbs to return.

He was there in Neyland Stadium on Saturday evening, decked out with his teammates in the Smokey Gray uniform, a shield on his helmet fit to play super villain to Georgia in a 38-31 victory.

"I just went out and did my job. My job is to score touchdowns," Dobbs said after a 312-yard passing performance that was only part of the story in a game where he accumulated 430 total yards of offense. "I did that."

And the Vols were much better because of it. Offensive coordinator Mike DeBord called for more rollout passes and designed quarterback runs a week removed from inexplicably trying to transform Dobbs into a dropback passer against an Arkansas team that had struggled against mobile signal-callers.

Not only was that the way Dobbs needed to be handled against the Bulldogs; it's the way he needs to be unleashed against Alabama in two weeks and in every game moving forward.

If you make Dobbs a passing quarterback only, he's average. Utilize his dual-threat skills, and he can do special things, such as become only the third SEC quarterback in the past decade to throw for 300 yards and run for 100 in a game, joining Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel. Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee tweeted:

It's just one of the several lessons UT coaches should have learned from a potential program-flipping win Saturday. Whether they take what they learned and apply it to the rest of the season may determine just how far these Vols can go.

"They had a different look," Vols coach Butch Jones said of his team. "This football team was not going to be denied."

It's that type of mentality Tennessee has been missing. Now that they have displayed it's in them, how can they cultivate that throughout the rest of the season and into the future?

Let's take a look at some things the Vols need to take from that victory over Georgia that can help them the rest of the way.

Open it up

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Playing with a big lead against Oklahoma and Florida, Tennessee appeared to go the ultraconservative route in order to protect a lead.

When the Vols got into a 24-3 hole against the Bulldogs, they were anything but timid. Instead, Jones dialed up numerous plays to get UT back into the game and ultimately into the lead.

Going for it on two fourth downs late in the first half not only led to the first Tennessee touchdown, it also had to give the Vols faith that their coaches trusted them to make plays. It was a bit of a desperation moment, and they came through both times.

UT methodically ran its offense throughout the game, finishing with 90 plays to UGA's 62, but the Vols were able to stay on the field because DeBord's play mix was so much better. They threw the ball downfield more, and even when it didn't work, they loosened up the defense.

They also got running back Alvin Kamara in space, and he absolutely must be involved in the offense more moving forward—as a runner and as a receiving threat, where he grabbed two touchdown passes against UGA.

Jalen Hurd can't do everything by himself.

Dobbs' ability to beat teams with his legs was on full display, and the Dawgs had to account for that. They struggled doing so, and coordinator Jeremy Pruitt's unit suffered a forgettable day in the process. Wes Rucker of 247Sports tweeted:

Of course, when the Vols needed just one first down to really make things difficult on Georgia at the end of the game, DeBord called three consecutive Dobbs runs, and the quarterback couldn't quite make the yardage for a first down.

Was that a regression to the conservative style that had doomed the Vols this year? Maybe so. But it felt at the time like putting the game on the shoulders of a player who had refused to be denied all day. That's OK to do, too.

You want the ball in the hands of your best players with the game on the line, and that's what DeBord did.

He didn't come through with the first down that time, but if you keep displaying faith in him, he will. Maybe the Vols just needed to prove to themselves and everybody else that they were capable of making pivotal plays with the game on the line.

Trust your recruiting

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There's a reason why everybody in the nation wanted prospects such as Preston Williams, Kahlil McKenzie, Jauan Jennings and Darrin Kirkland Jr.

They're really good young players.

All four played major roles for the Vols along with numerous others, and after working them in gradually over the first part of the season while less-talented upperclassmen took away valuable snaps, they played prominent roles in the win over Georgia.

Also, when sophomore guard Jashon Robertson went down with an injury, Jones played freshmen Chance Hall and Jack Jones along the offensive front, and both responded with exceptional games. They should have been playing more all along. Both are talented, and both proved the future is bright on the line.

The future should be now.

"They stepped up, were very calm and very poised," Jones said of the duo. "A lot of times when youngsters go in there, you get false starts, pre-snap penalties, missed assignments and all that, and they did not have that tonight. They played like a veteran group."

Jones has a little bit of Phillip Fulmer in him in that he likes to play the most experienced guys. There's nothing wrong with that if those upperclassmen are better players, but in most cases recently, they aren't. The Vols not only played a bunch of the young players against UGA; they leaned on them.

But it isn't just playing the freshmen. With the game in dire straits near the end of the first half, Jones opened up his offense and trusted all that talent he has recruited to make big plays. They proved they could, and that's the only way you grow up and get better.

That could be a huge turning point for this program to get over that psychological hump.

Press the issue

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Tennessee is still struggling mightily in getting to the quarterback on defense, something they have to address. Derek Barnett hasn't been completely healthy the past few weeks, and with Curt Maggitt out, opponents have been able to devote more attention to stopping Barnett.

Kyle Phillips missed the Georgia game with injury, and Corey Vereen and LaTroy Lewis haven't gotten the sacks in the interim. But the Vols did blitz more against the Dawgs, and they especially did in crucial third- and fourth-down situations.

That's from a lesson learned the hard way in the Florida game.

Did they get to Greyson Lambert much? No, not enough, and the nine UT sacks this year must improve. But they did harass the UGA quarterback and force him into some errant decisions. Getting some extra pressure on him led to Lambert completing less than 50 percent of his passes.

Defensive coordinator John Jancek told the Knoxville News Sentinel's Dustin Dopirak:

"

The biggest thing is to try to get Derek back and give him some rest. He plays every play. It's just the volume on him has worn him down. We'll work on some of our line stunts. We gotta get into some team situations where there's play action and we gotta convert and just continue to bang away at it. There's no real secret. There's no magic formula that you can go to that all of the sudden you're going to get a great pass rush. Just continue to work on it and be diligent.

"

The off week needs to see the Vols work on generating some creative ways to get after the passer.

But the Vols did better against Georgia than they have, getting one sack and being credited with four quarterback hurries. It's not where they need to be, but they need to realize that a four-man rush isn't getting the job done.

In key moments, send pressure and give the opponent something to worry about.

Band together

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Throughout last week, Jones told the media that the negative publicity surrounding the program brought the team closer together.

At the time, it sounded like your normal, everyday coachspeak. But after a huge, 14-point point swing with Leonard Floyd's 96-yard return of Hurd's fumble and then down three scores, the college football world saw firsthand that wasn't lip service.

"Like I said earlier, it galvanized us and brought us closer," Jones said. "For them to feel this way tonight and our fans to feel this way is very rewarding."

Added senior left tackle Kyler Kerbyson: "Yeah, it give us confidence as a team; it lets us know we're good. It just felt like everything was slipping away in those three losses. But this one really changes your mindset as a player and lets you know you’re a really good team and you guys mesh really well. So this was definitely huge for us."

How huge? The Vols flipped the narrative from the team that always finds a way to choke to the one that came through. With six games remaining in the season and plenty of winnable contests upcoming, that's invaluable.

It certainly was therapeutic for senior safety Brian Randolph, who shrugged off a trying season to make the play of the year, batting away Lambert's last heave toward the end zone.

Winning heals everything. Is it all sunshine and unicorns in Knoxville? Most likely no, but that isn't the case anywhere. However, that internal strife needs to stay internal. Social media doesn't need to be blowing up with rumors about what may or may not have happened.

That isn't good for the psyche of a team, and it isn't good for the perception of a program.

UT has to utilize this win as a catalyst to band together and prove to each other what can happen when a team plays together and everything clicks. This team is talented enough to win every game it plays, but it must be on the same page.

When that happens, you wind up arm in arm, standing in front of your band directing them in a rendition of "Rocky Top" while a stadium full of jubilant fans sing along.

It's not a bad payoff. The Vols have to build on that feeling moving forward.

All stats gathered from UTSports.com unless otherwise noted. All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.