Tennessee Football: What the Volunteers Must Do to Upset Georgia

The Tennessee Volunteers are enjoying a week of rest before traveling to Athens, Georgia, on Sept. 27 to take on the No. 13 Bulldogs—the first of many opportunities for the team to score an SEC upset this season. 

As odd as it sounds, the Vols are renewed following a blowout 34-10 loss to No. 4 Oklahoma last Saturday. Most teams that lose by 24 points find few positives in their performances. But for Tennessee, three plays were the difference between a resounding loss and giving the Sooners a run for their money well into the fourth quarter.

Tennessee fans, coaches and players are fed up with moral victories, but when a team is forced to rely on brand-new offensive and defensive lines and one of the youngest rosters in college football, you take what you can get.

And in this case, what you get is a surprisingly stout defense, a vastly improved quarterback and, most importantly, a team that doesn't give up. 

For Tennessee to pull off a win between the hedges two Saturdays from now, it'll need all of the above—and then some. 

Here are the team's four keys to victory. 

Establish the running game

Tennessee has no chance against the Bulldogs if the offensive line can't open up running room for Jalen Hurd and Marlin Lane. Georgia's defense, while not elite, is still upper-echelon in the SEC.

And while Justin Worley is vastly improved over last season, he's not at a level where he can pick apart the Bulldogs secondary if the defense doesn't respect the ground game.

Getting manhandled by the Sooners may have done the Vols' young offensive line a big favor, as the Bulldogs' defensive front isn't nearly as fast and disruptive and should be slightly easier to contain. 

Meanwhile, Jalen Hurd, who is looking more and more like the Vols' marquee running back, needs to continue running hard and getting tough yards after contact.

In fact, Hurd's 48 carries so far is third in the SEC behind only Vanderbilt's Ralph Webb (58) and Arkansas' Alex Collins (50), according to Ben Frederickson of the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

Despite his number of touches per game, the offensive line simply doesn't have the experience and push to allow him to reach the second level untouched, and he'll need to break tackles to move the chains and set the offense up for 3rd-and-short conversions.

Contain Todd Gurley and Sony Michel

Rainier Ehrhardt/Associated Press

Injuries have made Georgia's unbelievable depth at running back a little less terrifying for Tennessee defensive coordinator John Jancek.

Freshman running back Nick Chubb just had surgery on his thumb, according to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution's Chip Towers, while junior tailback Keith Marshall is still battling knee issues from an injury suffered against Tennessee last season.

Unfortunately for the Vols, that still leaves Georgia with Sony Michel, one of the top running backs in the 2014 class, and Todd Gurley, the top running back in the country.

Tennessee's defensive front isn't the anemic and inexperienced group many thought it would be prior to the season, but it also hasn't been tested by an athlete of Gurley's caliber. 

Unlike previous seasons, the Vols have enough speed to mostly contain Gurley on the perimeter, but where he excels is breaking tackles and gaining huge yardage straight up the middle.

Luckily for Tennessee, the interior defensive line will have a familiar face for that test, as redshirt junior Trevarris Saulsberry is back from a knee injury, according to GoVolsXtra's David Cobb. 

The Vols will need Saulsberry in order to keep fresh legs on the field and prevent Gurley from breaking long runs and putting the Bulldogs offense in scoring position. 

Get the ball to Marquez North

Marquez North is simply Tennessee's best player on offense. He runs excellent routes, makes defenders miss and is athletic enough to come down with tough, contested catches.

While Worley has been great at spreading the ball around to multiple wide receivers this season, North should always be his main target. Georgia's defensive backs aren't as small as some in the SEC, but North's 6'4", 225-pound frame gives him a huge advantage both at the line of scrimmage and in the air when fighting for jump balls.

Last season, North hauled in his only touchdown catch of the year against the Bulldogs. I expect him to add at least two more to that tally in two weeks.

And while North isn't quite the same caliber player as former Vols wide receiver/kick returner/freak athlete Cordarrelle Patterson, it wouldn't surprise me to see the coaches use him similarly in a few packaged plays just to get the ball in his hands. 

Keep the crowd out of the game

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The Vols caught a break when it was announced the matchup against Georgia is scheduled for a noon kickoff. Playing under the lights is almost always bad news for the away team, especially against a conference rival eager to claw its way back into the hunt for a divisional title. 

While the Bulldogs' loss to South Carolina last week means there's no way they'll overlook the Vols, Tennessee can take advantage of the early start time and surprise Georgia with a quick score. 

If that fails, the Vols really can't afford to get behind early and let the Bulldogs feed off the crowd and gain momentum. If Jones needs any inspiration, he need look no further than Tennessee's disastrous trip to Athens in 2010, where nearly everything that could go wrong for Tennessee did go wrong that day.

Final thoughts 

Tennessee has the talent to steal a win in Athens in two weeks, and Jones scored the biggest win of his career last season against South Carolina coming off a similarly tough loss and bye week. 

Plus, there's no doubt Jones, his staff and his players—especially Pig Howard—want revenge for last year's devastating overtime loss to Georgia in front of a sellout Neyland Stadium crowd. 

While the Vols will likely be heavy underdogs heading into this contest, the team has all the pieces to get its first upset win of the season and begin building a resume for claiming its first SEC East crown since 2007.