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Tennessee Will Be Tough
BUT IT LOOKS LIKE STETSON BENNETT IS THE MAN FOR THE JOB
By Cy Brown news@flagpole.com
The Dawgs are No. 1 in college football and
sitting pretty at 9-0. It’s the second time
Georgia has been 9-0 under Kirby Smart, the
first time coming in 2017. With three games
left in the regular season, this team is trying
to achieve something only achieved by the
1980 national title-winning team: go 12-0.
But don’t pencil in that perfect regu
lar-season record just yet. Crazy things can
happen in college football, especially when
you go on the road. And this weekend we
have to travel to one of the toughest locales
in the SEC, Knoxville, to face Tennessee’s
high-powered offense in front of 100,000
hootin’ Vols.
We all know how good this Georgia
defense has been this season. It’s allowing
a paltry 6.5 points per game, and no oppo
nent has scored more than 13. Because of
that dominance, the offense hasn’t needed
to score much to win, although it is averag
ing 38.4 points per game.
The concern has been over what would
happen if we did get into a shootout. How
would we respond? Well, if that’s going
to happen in the regular season, it will be
against Tennessee.
Under first-year head coach Josh Heupel,
the Vols have lit up scoreboards. The Vols
rank 15th nationally in points per game
(38.2) and 20th in total yardage per game
(457.6). Against Kentucky, they won 45-42
despite only 13:52 of pos
session, the least posses- g
sion in a winning effort by g
any team since 2005. ^
Because of losses to
high-powered LSU, Florida
and Alabama offenses
in recent years, there is
an apprehension in the
fanbase about potential
shootouts. The fact that
Stetson Bennett IV was
the starter in two of those
losses and is once again the
starter heading into the
last stretch of the season
isn’t lost on anyone, either.
The gamble Kirby
is making by starting
Bennett over JT Daniels,
who is a better overall
passer, is that the defense is so good,
Bennett will never need to beat anyone in
a shootout. It’s the same gamble he made
in 2017 with Jake Fromm under center.
Back then, it worked like a charm... until it
didn’t: second and 26.
But if there was any year that gamble
could pay off, it’s this one. There is no 2019
LSU or 2020 Alabama out there. A handful
of teams may still be capable of forcing us
into a shootout—Alabama, Ohio State,
Oklahoma—but those teams’ offenses have
been slowed down by defenses nowhere
near as good as Georgia’s.
With that in mind, it seems likely Kirby
sticks with Bennett. Against Missouri,
Bennett passed for 255 yards and two
touchdowns on just 13 completions, with
four completions going for more than 20
yards. Don’t look now, but Bennett has
become an explosive passer, making doubt
ers such as myself look like fools.
Not only that, but reinforcements have
arrived. Receivers Jermaine Burton, Arian
Smith and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint all
returned to full duty against Missouri. For
the first time this season, we have most of
our receiving corps healthy. Now we don’t
just have talent at receiver, we have depth,
thanks to the reps Ladd McConkey, Adonai
Mitchell and Brock Bowers received in those
guys’ absence. A healthy receiving corps
will go a long way toward closing the gap
between Bennett and Daniels as passers.
Add to that the fact that Bennett has more
reps and is more mobile, I don’t see any rea
son to start Daniels again,
barring a horrendous per
formance from Bennett in
the next few weeks.
There’s also something
to be said for the psycho
logical aspect of playing
Bennett. Kirby comes from
the Nick Saban School of
Player Motivation. That
means he wants to make
sure his players always
have a chip on their shoul
ders and play as if no one
believes in them, when in
fact all anyone has done
all year is heap praise on
them. But Bennett gives
the offense a rallying cry:
“No one believes in this
guy but us.” That bit of
pettiness may provide the offense with an
extra edge the rest of the way.
You did it, Stetson. You won me over. I’m
a believer. Now try not to make me look like
a fool again. ©
Ladd McConkey has become a weapon for now-entrenched starter Stetson Bennett.
SOUTHERN JOURNEY: AN AFRO-AMERICANA CELEBRATION!
gr; Featuring RANKYTANKY
and Special Guest DOM FLEMONS
Grammy-winning artists showcase the rich heritage of African American
roots music in this unique double bill.
Ranky Tanky, a band of native South Carolinians, mixes Gullah culture and
Lowcountry traditions with large doses of jazz, gospel, funk, and R&B.
Multi-instrumentalist Dorn Flemons, The American Songster, was a founding
member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. He won a Grammy with that group
and earned additional nominations for solo albums.
Tue, Nov 16, 7:30 PM
Hodgson Concert Hall
UGA Performing Arts Center
UGAPresents
Box Office Mon-Fri, 10 AM-5 PM
(706) 542-4400 I pac.uga.edu
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NOVEMBER 10, 2021 | FLAGPOLE.COM
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