It's the Game of the Year to this point. No. 1 Georgia (8-0 SU, 4-4 ATS) hosts No. 2 Tennesee (8-0 SU, 7-1 ATS on Saturday at 3:30pmET from Sanford Stadium in Athens.
However, the most important poll came out on Tuesday night. In the first College Football Playoffs poll, Tennessee was ranked first and the Bulldogs were ranked second.
Last season, the Bulldogs were victorious in Knoxville 41-17 over the Vols as a 19-point favorite.
To both team's credit, they did not look ahead last week when the Vols crushed Kentucky at home 44-6 last Saturday. The Bulldogs took care of business in Jacksonville with a 42-20 win over Flordia, but they didn't cover the 23.5.
Tennessee sits in second place in the SEC East at 4-0, just a 1/2 game behind Georgia. Josh Heupel is the hot name of the moment because his team took out Alabama at home (52-49) and has won two more since then. In their win over Kentucky last week, they show that their defense can step up as well as their offense. Star QB Hendon Hooker threw for 245 yards with three TDs and no picks, while Jalin Hyatt added 138 yards receiving and two scores. Hyatt also set the Vols' season record with 14 receiving touchdowns in one season to break a 25-year record.
Georgia week underway with Coach Heupel's weekly press conference https://t.co/62PlXaQcHg
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) October 31, 2022
But it was the defense that stepped up, holding Kentucky QB Will Levis to just 98 yards passing, sacking him four times and picking him off three times. Tennesee outgained the Wildcats 422 yards to 205.
When it comes to firepower, Tennessee has it all on offense. They lead the nation in scoring offense at 49.4 points per game and in total offense with 553 yards per game. It starts with Hooker, who is having a Heisman Trophy-winning season with 2,338 yards passing, 21 TDs and just one pick.
Thanks to Hooker, Tennessee leads the FBS in quarterback efficiency rating (198.5) and yards per attempt (11.3), while ranking second in yards per game (353.4), sixth in completion percentage (71.3) and fourth in touchdowns (26).
They can also run the football, averaging 199.6 yards per game (25th), thanks to Hooker (338 yards, 4 TDs) , Jaylen Wright (478 yds, 5 TDs) and Jabari Small (475 yds, 8TDs). Defensively , Tennessee is good, but not great. The big issue is that they rank 127th in passing yards (300.8ypg) and that came after a sterling effort by their defense against a banged-up Will Levis. LB Byron YOung leads Tennessee with five sacks.