Coach Kirby Smart led Georgia to its 800th all-time victory in smashmouth style Saturday, as the Bulldogs crushed the Tennessee Vols, 41-0, in Knoxville.
Freshman quarterback Jake Fromm led Georgia to a 24-0 lead in the first half, going 5 for 12 for 62 yards with a TD. He added TD runs of 9 and 4 yards for his first 2 career rushing scores. He finished 7 of 15 for 84 yards before Jacob Eason took over the QB duties. Overall, Georgia tallied 378 yards of total offense, including 294 on the ground.
Georgia posted a shutout for the first time since 2014 (34-0 win over Missouri in Columbia) and ended UT’s streak of scoring in 289 consecutive games (dating to 1994). UGA held Tennessee to 142 yards of total offense, while turning 4 turnovers into 10 points.
Georgia’s leading tackler was junior LB Roquan Smith with 11 stops. Sophomore DB Tyrique McGhee intercepted a pass on the first play from scrimmage, while junior J.R. Reed got his first pick as a Bulldog.
Georgia went 6 for 6 inside the red zone to remain perfect on the year, scoring 4 TDs and kicking 2 field goals.
Here is some of what Smart said after UGA’s dominant win:
On UGA’s toughness
“They’re buying into the culture of toughness, effort, running to the ball, running the ball on offense. If you grow on that, with the backs we’ve got here and the offensive line, you’ve got the chance to be successful.”
On Jacob Eason’s return
“It was great to get Jacob in there because I thought it was getting the rust off the kid. Get him back out there, get him comfortable, get him functioning and he’ll continue to do that in practice.”
On whether Jake Fromm will be starting next week
“Fromm did some good things. He made some poor decisions. I mean there were some plays where he didn’t make the right decision on it. We evaluate quarterbacks on decisions. Did he make the decision to pull it down and run it a couple times, absolutely, and I thought he did a good job with it.”
On Fromm’s performance
“Jim [Chaney, the offensive coordinator,] called a good game for him, some zone reads where he was able to get a first down or a touchdown. Those were good calls and good decisions by him. But we have to be more consistent with that. And there’s some throws in there where I don’t know what he’s thinking or what he’s doing; he shouldn’t do that. He knows that. And he knows he can correct those.”