Bulldog defense gets set to face Hooker, Tennessee's high-powered offensive attack
Bulldog defense gets set to face Hooker, Tennessee's high-powered offensive attack
Tennessee wasn’t even in the top 25 to start the 2022 season. However, the Volunteers are now ranked No. 1 after the College Football Playoff committee’s initial rankings came out Tuesday.
Josh Heupel has his squad heading into the most important matchup of the season: visiting Athens to take on former No. 1 and current No. 3 Georgia on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on CBS.
The Volunteers are led by quarterback Hendon Hooker, who is now a favorite for the Heisman Trophy. The senior signal-caller has completed 156-of-219 of his pass attempts for 2,338 yards with 21 TDs and one INT. Hooker leads the SEC in terms of completion percentage (71.23 percent), yards per attempt (10.68 yards) and QBR (191.54).
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said he’s seen Hooker progress since the start of the season.
“Just another year experienced in the offense. He's one step ahead of where he was,” Smart said. “To think of the reps and the games he's played since the games last year, he's just as elusive, he's got probably the same arm talent. Those two don't improve. It's his decision-making and his processing, and the guys around him are playing better, too. They're playing much better across the offensive line, they're running the ball, and they got explosive playmakers that are playing better. So they've improved around him and he's improved.”
Tennessee’s offense is one of the best in the country and is very explosive. The Volunteers lead the nation in points per game (49.4) and total offense (553 yards per game). They also rank No. 2 nationally in passing yards, averaging 353.4 yards per contest. Their rushing isn’t bad, either, totaling 199.6 yards per game at 25th in the nation.
The Bulldogs’ defense will hope to slow down Tennessee’s fast-paced offensive attack, just as they did last year. They were the last team to hold the Volunteers to under 20 points.
Georgia defensive tackle Zion Logue understands the tall task he and his teammates will face on Saturday.
"It’s a great challenge for us," Logue said. “The tempo, we’re not going to let that affect us. We’re going to play our game and stick to the things we’ve been taught all season.”
Smart acknowledged how Tennessee’s offensive tempo can catch defenses off-guard, adding that it’s hard to substitute in and out players in-between snaps while on defense.
“They go fast,” Smart said. “They get a lot of at-bats in terms of possessions, and they do start fast.”
However, Smart highlighted that Georgia has been working on the Volunteers for a while.
“Yeah, we worked on them in the offseason, but we work on a lot of opponents in the offseason. We worked on them in the bye week, but we worked on two or three opponents in the bye week,” Smart said. “It is a challenge to get ready for because -- they'll be the first to tell you, they don't watch all of your tape because they -- some of it they use, some of it they don't. They have some traditional formations and traditional plays. But a lot of theirs are very different. It's very unique and they have a plan of attack based on how you're going to play them. It's not like they haven't seen -- you're not going to trick them. You're not going to show them something they haven't seen. You got to do what you do better than they do. And they're really good at what they do.”
Another aspect of Tennessee’s offense is its underrated run game. The Volunteers have the nation’s No. 25 rush offense, averaging 199.6 yards per game and 4.6 yards per carry. They also have 26 team total rush TDs, which is tied for third-most in the country.
Smart pointed out Saturday that Tennessee’s offense can effectively move the ball on the ground.
He said the Volunteers’ run game helps set up Hooker to connect with his wide receivers.
“They run the ball really well, guys. I know you don't believe me, but they run the ball really well — which is why they throw the ball outside because everybody's got people inside,” Smart said after Georgia’s win over Florida. “They have a perfect storm: they've got really fast, elite wideouts, a quarterback with a really strong arm. You know, if they have a quarterback that couldn't throw it, you'd say, 'Well, they're one-dimensional.' But they have kind of a perfect storm going for his offense, and when he has that it's really, really, really hard to stop. They go at an elite pace, and they do a tremendous job."
Heupel explained Wednesday that Tennessee’s run game has helped open up the offense.
“For us, we have balance in what we do offensively. The run game's critical to our success,” Heupel said. “The line of scrimmage in this football game will play a big part in determining the football game. I think we've continued to get better up front defensively and offensively throughout this season. We still have a lot of room for growth, but we're going to continue to prepare and practice the right way and compete.”
An area of concern for Georgia is handling the tempo that the Volunteers use on offense. They average about two plays every 50 seconds, which can wear down a defense.
The Bulldogs were one of the most well-conditioned teams in the nation last season; however, they haven’t been tested this year, so Saturday’s matchup with Tennessee will be telling.
“If they're not in shape, then you did something wrong long before. So, we've been building towards this week in terms of - since week one, the conditioning level of our players has been a concern every week for me,” Smart said. “It's one of the major concerns, Are you in good enough shape? Because if you're not, you can't make it up in one week. So it's one of those things we work really hard on. I don't know how much other teams condition in the country, but we do a lot because I think it's really important.
“Unfortunately, we haven't had a lot of games where we've played a lot of snaps. So that goes back to, If you're not playing them in the game, you better get it done during the week. And, we've worked hard at it. We're going to find out on Saturday if we're in shape or not. I can promise you that because they're going to try and get a lot of snaps in.”
Regardless, a good thing for Georgia’s defense is getting back defensive lineman Jalen Carter from an MLC injury. He played limited snaps last Saturday but was disruptive in the win over Florida. Carter should be able to help the Bulldogs slow down Tennessee.
“He played probably better than I expected,” Smart said of Carter’s performance against Florida this past Saturday. “You know, when y'all asked me after the game, I didn't really know how much effect he really had. He was in on run, he was in on pass. He executed really well. He held the point. He didn't feel like it [his injury] bothered him. So, you know, it's really about stamina and him being able to hold up in conditioning. And one thing he's been doing a lot lately is conditioning. He hadn't been practicing. So we hope to have him in great shape and hopefully, he's able to go and be full speed.”
Here is the video from Smart’s Monday press conference: