Georgia Bulldogs: More Pressure on UGA or UT in Week 6?

The Georgia Bulldogs are 4-1 (2-1) about to face the 2-3 (0-2) Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville on Saturday. Who is feeling the pressure more: UGA or UT?

This was a game I circled on the Georgia Bulldogs calendar as a potential letdown game for the Dawgs. Going to Knoxville against a team I thought would contend in the SEC East this year. UGA would feel elated after beating Alabama at home on October 3rd to move to 5-0 (3-0) and sit as the #3 ranked team in the NCAA.

Well, none of that happened. The Georgia Bulldogs did not show up versus the Alabama Crimson Tide in Week 5, getting pummeled at home 38-10. UGA plummeted from #8 in the NCAA to #19 from their loss to the Crimson Tide. The Georgia Bulldogs can technically afford to lose another conference game and still make it to the 2015 SEC Championship. Anything can happen in that game.

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Tennessee started 2015 ranked in the AP Top 25. Entering Week 6, the Volunteers’ two wins are against the Bowling Green State Falcons and the Western Carolina Catamounts. Impressive. They have lost all three of their games to Power 5 Conference teams: Week 2 vs. the Oklahoma Sooners, Week 4 at the Florida Gators, and Week 5 vs. the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Tennessee HC Butch Jones’ seat is starting to get mighty toasty in the Smoky Mountains. I’m not sure if Jones’ seat isn’t on fire already. You can never tell in the Smoky Mountains. Oh, Rocky Top…

Georgia Bulldogs HC Mark Richt still hasn’t proven he can beat a goliath in 15 seasons at the helm of the UGA program. Something has to give in this game. Who is feeling the pressure more entering Week 6: UGA or UT?

Though UGA needs to win their remain five SEC games (@Tennessee, vs. Missouri, Georgia-Florida, vs. Kentucky, and @Auburn) to earn their right to play for an SEC Championship, the pressure is entirely on Butch Jones and the Tennessee Volunteers football program in Week 6.

Richt and the UGA staff will have at least another year of both Nick Chubb and Sony Michel in the backfield, the defense is only in its second season under DC Jeremy Pruitt, and the next Matthew Stafford in the form of 5-Star QB recruit Jacob Eason will be on campus in January.

Though I expect Eason to redshirt and Greyson Lambert to finish his second season in Athens, the 5-Star will be in Athens if we need him. I know it’s the Georgia Way, but I get the feeling that the Dawgs are even more likely to contend in 2016. Next year has always been my favorite year. Is it yours?

Tennessee on the other hand, has lost 11 straight to the Florida Gators, the 8 straight to the Alabama Crimson Tide, and 5 straight to the Georgia Bulldogs. The Vols only win versus three of their biggest rivals since HC Philip Fulmer left UT after the 2008 Season was against UGA in the brief Lane Kiffin Era (2009, thanks Joe Cox).

In this era of the SEC, to win the West a team must go no worse than 7-1 in Conference Play. In the East a team must go no worse than 6-2. Tennessee has lost at least 3 SEC games since 2008. The last time UT played in an SEC Championship was in 2007, with a 6-2 conference record. I don’t see how Butch Jones’ team beats the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa next week. If UT can’t knock off the Dawgs in Knoxville, the Volunteers will be 2-4 (0-3) before facing Bama!

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The Georgia Bulldogs may not have the story book season like we all hoped for this year, but at least the head coaching regime in Athens isn’t a crumbling fake empire like it is in Knoxville. If the field cooperates in Week 6 (big if), I like UGA to deliver the knockout punch to the Butch Jones Era in Tennessee football.

We might feel ungrateful at times for not playing in a National Championship in the Mark Richt Era (since 2001), but at least we are not potentially looking at our fourth Head Coach in a decade. A loss to the Georgia Bulldogs looks like the final nail in the coffin for Butch Jones in Knoxville. Hopefully, the Dawgs remember to bring the hammer to the Smoky Mountains in Week 6. Go Dawgs!

Next: Georgia Bulldogs: Can Team Win SEC at 6-2?

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