Paul Finebaum: Tennessee loss to Georgia puts Volunteers in 'awkward' spot

The Tennessee Volunteers and Georgia Bulldogs played a thriller on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Volunteers, as has consistently become the case, it ended with a Bulldogs win. This time, it was in an overtime heartbreaker.

With some time to reflect on the game, Paul Finebaum appeared on The Matt Barrie Show. There, he explained that the loss to Georgia has put Tennessee in an awkward spot because they should have won the game, but still weren’t able to.

“The bad part is the Tennessee part,” Paul Finebaum said. “I don’t know when they’ll have an opportunity any better. As you alluded [to], a lot of missed moments and it puts Tennessee in a very awkward spot. Even Kirby Smart said it afterwards, Tennessee should have won the game.”

Georgia and Tennessee have a long history as SEC rivals but have only played annually since 1992. That can make the type of streak that the Bulldogs have currently against the Volunteers stand out. It’s now up to nine straight wins, the longest win streak Georgia has ever had over Tennessee, and, to Finebaum’s point, this was a game that the Volunteers could have won.

Tennessee got to a fast start, scoring 21 first quarter points. From there, it became a back-and-forth affair, but midway through the fourth quarter, Tennessee found itself with a five-point lead and the ball. Conservative play calling forced a field goal attempt, which Tennessee made, making it an eight-point game. That was when Georgia marched down the field to tie the game, only for the Volunteers to set up and miss a potential game-winning kick. Georgia would then go on to win in overtime.

There was some criticism directed at Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel following the game. However, the conservative playcalling was something that made sense to him in the moment, and it’s only with the benefit of hindsight that there’s frustration with the approach.

“It’s a situation where they’re in the two-high bracket coverage. We obviously don’t pick up what we need to. We get behind the chains,” Heupel explained. “And I was willing to be aggressive there if we got to a fourth down, too, had a little trap play. And end up losing inside on it. And we don’t pick it up and end up having to kick. And you got a chance to take it to full two possessions, for sure. But, first to second down, a little bit of how they were playing was why we were doing what we were doing, too.”

The loss to Georgia is a significant one in this rivalry. For Tennessee, it’s another missed opportunity to take down the rival. At the same time, as last season proved, that won’t keep them out of the College Football Playoff moving forward.