georgia football kirby smart tennessee lsu

If you’ve been on the internet at some point in the last month, you’ve probably seen someone compare the current iteration of the Tennessee Volunteers to the 2019 version of LSU.

Both teams feature offenses that seem unstoppable. LSU was led by Joe Burrow, who won the Heisman Trophy. Hendon Hooker, Tennessee’s quarterback, is currently the Heisman Trophy favorite. Each squad had a rather historic win over Alabama and it was the first real success for either team in some time.

For all the similarities though, Kirby Smart doesn’t see it. And he would know, as Georgia played the 2019 LSU team and will face the No. 1 ranked Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday

“Well, going back to that game, it was tough because they had five, six, something first-rounders,” Smart said of LSU. “When you throw Ja’Marr Chase and the quarterback, they had all these first-rounders in there. And they were really talented and they did a really good job executing. They did use some tempo.”

While Tennessee doesn’t have Chase or Justin Jefferson, Jalin Hyatt has been a major problem for opposing defenses this season. He’s scored a nation-best 14 touchdowns, with five of them coming in the 52-49 win over Alabama. The Volunteers also got star receiver Cedric Tillman back against Kentucky last week, after he missed several games with an ankle injury.

There’s also the fact that while LSU used some tempo, Tennessee uses a whole lot of it. The Tennessee offense pushes like an F1 car on a fresh set of soft tires, not so much worried about time of possession but rather moving as fast as it can as it makes its way to the end zone.

“All I know is that they were number one in the country last year in pace of play and pace of play in a minute,” Smart said. “They are number one this year. I would say that is it faster because everybody is back.”

The Volunteers, as Kirby Smart has warned several times, are much of a running team than one that heavily leans on the pass.

Tennessee enters the game averaging just under 200 yards per game on the ground. Georgia did have a strong showing a week ago against a Florida team that led the nation in yards per carry, giving up only 100 yards on 34 rushing attempts.

A similar effort this week would be significant for Georgia, even with the explosiveness of the Tennessee passing game. Georgia will be without ace edge defender Nolan Smith but defensive tackle Jalen Carter looked very strong in his return to the lineup.

While Tennessee and LSU don’t employ the same offenses, Smart does take lessons away from the 37-10 loss suffered in the 2019 SEC Championship Game. Georgia often fielded seven defensive backs against the Tigers that day, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

Also hurting Georgia that day was an extremely limited offense. The Bulldogs finished with just 10 points, bottoming out after a series of shaky performances during the second half of the season.

The Georgia offense that will face Tennessee on Saturday is significantly better than the one it had in 2019. Georgia ranks second in the country in yards per game, behind only Tennessee. While the Volunteers rank 125th in time of possession, Georgia ranks fourth in said metric.

Playing complimentary football and keeping the Tennessee offense off the field would go a long way in helping the Bulldogs come out with a victory against the No. 1 Volunteers.

Something it could not do when it took on No. 1 LSU in 2019.

“There was some things we learned from that that had helped us in the future and we always kept them in our package of the three-down different looks they had,” Smart said. “You know, we used 7 DBs in that game. Used different looks and you try to give them some confusion.

“But there’s not a lot of similarities between the two offenses, if that’s what you’re asking.”

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