The No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs won again on Saturday with a 44-21 win over the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers. It wasn’t always pretty for the Bulldogs, but on a day where both Florida and LSU suffered surprising upsets, Georgia should be mostly happy with a win. The Bulldogs covered too.

Recap: Georgia football pummels Tennessee

Below are some of the observations and takeaways from Georgia’s win over Tennessee.

My God, this Georgia football defense

When this defense turns up the heat, it is a ton of fun to watch if you’re a Georgia fan and downright haunting if you root for the opposing team.

The Georgia defense had its struggles in man coverage during the first half, as Josh Palmer caught touchdowns against both DJ Daniel and Tyson Campbell.

But in the second half, this Georgia defense made things an absolute nightmare for the vaunted Tennessee offensive line and Jarrett Guarantano. The Volunteers finished with negative 1 rushing yards on 27 carries. Coming into the day the Volunteers were second in the SEC in rushing, as they averaged 182 yards per game. The Volunteers two running backs Eric Gray and Ty Chandler combined for 36 yards on 16 carries.

With the Volunteers having to throw the ball, it allowed the Georgia pass rush to go to work. The Bulldogs finished with five sacks and three forced fumbles. Azeez Ojulari forced a fumble and recovered it. So did Monty Rice, who turned his scoop into a score.

Adam Anderson blew past former Bulldogs offensive lineman Cade Mays on a sack. He forced a fumble but couldn’t recover it.

Eric Stokes also hauled in an interception thanks to some pressure via Tyrique Stevenson. The Tennessee offense had just no fun in the second half.

And another Georgia defender found a way to get into the endzone, as freshman defensive tackle Jalen Carter reached the endzone with a touchdown catch.

The Bulldogs defense shut out Tennessee in the second half and continued to be everything it has been hyped to be so far this season. It will get its biggest test by far next week against Alabama.

Eyes will be on Stetson Bennett IV

Stetson Bennett had another interesting day for the Georgia Bulldogs. He was mostly good, but there were just enough plays to give one pause, especially with Alabama looming.

Bennett completed 16 of his 27 pass attempts for 238 yards. He threw for two touchdowns, one to Kearis Jackson and the other to Carter.

He also made a number of impressive plays with his legs, as he ran for 22 yards. He picked a key third down and then followed up with a touchdown.

But there were also times on Saturday where Bennett did need to show more. He was lucky Tennessee dropped what should’ve been an obvious interception. He also played a part in the struggles during the third quarter when Georgia was gifted a short field and could only turn it into two field goals.

Bennett continues to be a good story for the Bulldogs and college football as a whole. We’ll learn next week against a much better Alabama team how good of a player he truly can be for the Bulldogs.

Kearis Jackson comes up big on third down, again

The Georgia offense was pretty miserable in the third quarter. But when it needed to make a play in the passing game, it found Kearis Jackson.

The redshirt sophomore wide receiver had two huge third-down conversions in the third quarter to help Georgia score its first touchdown of the half and extend its lead to nine.

Jackson first pulled in a 20-yard pass to turn a third and 10 into a first down. Then, with Georgia once again on Tennessee’s side of the field, Jackson made the biggest play of the game, as he hauled in a pass that turned into a 21-yard touchdown to give Georgia a 30-21 lead.

Jackson added another big catch on Georgia’s first drive of the fourth quarter to put them in the red zone, though it came on first down. He finished the game with four catches for 91 yards and the touchdown.

Through the first three games of the season, it’s clear Jackson has been Georgia’s top receiver.

Sloppy first half for Georgia football

Georgia trailed at the half against Tennessee, and it really only had itself to blame. The Bulldogs gifted Tennessee seven points to start the game, thanks to an errant snap by Trey Hill. The Bulldogs got stuffed on multiple fourth and inches situations, something that shouldn’t happen given Georgia’s recruiting edge over the Volunteers.

The first of those stuffs came in Georgia territory. The very next play, Guarantano hooked up with Josh Palmer on a 36-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 14.

Before we get to the second short-yardage snafu, we also have to mention George Pickens drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he wasn’t even on the field. He got caught squirting a water bottle in the face of Guarantano, which drew the 15-yard penalty. That cannot happen. Ever.

Then on the final play of the half, Zamir White got stuffed trying to score on fourth down, giving the Volunteers a 21-17 lead going into halftime. Georgia was better than Tennessee all day long but the first half didn’t show based on how the Bulldogs played. And all that came before a dreadful third quarter, for the most part, for the Georgia offense, where it started in Tennessee territory twice and scored just six points.

Georgia will need to be much sharper next Saturday against Alabama if the Bulldogs are going to win that game.

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