Tennessee Favored By 1 1/2 At Home Over Georgia

NFL News - October 8th, 2009 - Written by Scott

A great SEC East matchup is set for Saturday as Georgia travels to play the Tennessee Volunteers. Tennessee (2-3, 0-2) will look for their first SEC win this year. They are now in the toughest part of their schedule and making a bowl appearance seems to be fading fast. Last week, the Volunteers lost to Auburn 26-22, a game that was not as close as the score dictates. Georgia had a tough 20-13 loss to LSU last week. Georgia is in second place in the SEC East behind No. 1 Florida. The Georgia Bulldogs won last year's meeting 26-14. This game is particularly important for both teams as Georgia tries to stay in the hunt for an SEC title shot and for Tennessee, keeping their hopes of bowl eligibility alive.

Georgia's success on offense has been mainly through the air so far this season. Quarterback Joe Cox has passed for 1,209 yards and 11 touchdowns. Their rushing attack has not been up to par and the Bulldogs are only averaging 98 yards per game on the ground. They will have a hard time against the Volunteers, as Tennessee is strong against the rush. Richard Samuel is their leading rusher and has 292 yards and 2 touchdowns. Cox has an extremely talented group of wide outs to throw to. The SEC leading receiver, A.J. Green, is one of four receivers who have over 100 yards in receiving. He has 527 yards and 5 touchdowns this season. Georgia's defense finally got their pass rush going last week and totaled six sacks against LSU. They will need to continue this against Tennessee and force the Volunteers' inconsistent quarterback into making bad decisions.

The offensive line for Tennessee has been their strong point offensively for the Volunteers. They have opened up holes for their running backs and provided enough protection for quarterback Jonathan Crompton, but Crompton has been very inconsistent on the year. He has passed for 900 yards and 8 touchdowns, but their rushing attack has been the lone bright spot. Montario Hardesty leads all backs with 575 yards and 5 touchdowns. Crompton will need to get going early in the game and not allow Georgia to stack the line of scrimmage and stop the run. Their defense allowed a season high 459 yards last week which was uncharacteristic of how they performed in their prior games. They will need to improve on their pass rush or Cox could have a big day.

Tennessee will be favored by 1 1/2 over Georgia this Saturday according to Bodog sportsbook. Tennessee will need to do a good job of controlling the clock in order to keep Georgia's offense and quarterback Joe Cox off the field.

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