After taking two quarters just to get in rhythm all year, Tennessee picked the perfect time to finally start hot. The Vols jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the Georgia Bulldogs in the first quarter, and you felt that as Dylan Sampson and the run game wore the opposition down, they’d be in control before UGA could come back.
That seemed even more possible with seconds left in the first quarter. UT’s defense forced a 3rd and 8 for the Dawgs on their own 27-yard line. Josh Heupel’s team was in position to get the ball back up 10-0 to start the second quarter and significantly quiet the crowd.
On that play, though, James Pearce Jr. jumped offsides. Carson Beck snapped the ball and took advantage of the free play by chucking it down the field to Dominic Lovett. Jermod McCoy, clearly dejected by the fact that it was a free play, did not go all out to break up that pass.
The result was a 38-yard completion to Lovett. Georgia used its newfound momentum to march right down the field and score to cut it to 10-7. It’s unclear what would have happened if Pearce didn’t jump offsides, but the truth of the matter is you can almost certainly bank on the fact that McCoy would not have let that play happen then.
Now, you could say Georgia would have gone another route without the free play, so this doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t convert. Still, the mistake all comes down to Pearce jumping offsides. UT’s edge rushers did that three more times on the night, and they all proved costly.
From that moment, Beck got back into a rhythm he hadn’t seen in about four weeks. He finished the game with 370 passing yards and also had a couple of really nice runs, but it all came down to that play at the end of the first quarter. If that doesn’t happen, things may end up totally different.
