Georgia keeps finding ways to win against Tennessee and the Bulldogs will only get better

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Maybe Tennessee did deserve to win, as Georgia’s Kirby Smart opined Saturday in the bowels of Neyland Stadium just outside the dilapidated visiting locker room following the Bulldogs’ thrilling 44-41 overtime victory against the Vols.

And maybe the Bulldogs did give up more yards and more points than they’re accustomed to giving up under Smart.

But in the world of college football — and especially in what’s shaping up to be a season of carnage within the SEC — there’s no such thing as deserve. Full disclaimer: Clint Eastwood first uttered that famous line at the end of his Western classic “Unforgiven.”

For now, we’ll steal it.

The No. 6 Bulldogs did win, and they won in the most hostile of environments with a quarterback making his first SEC road start, a starting offensive line plagued by injuries and the largest deficit staring them in the face in this series (14 points) since the 45-19 loss to Lane Kiffin and the Vols in 2009.

“Nobody panicked. There’s no panic in this team. The only thing we know is that we’re going to fight. That’s who we are,” Georgia receiver London Humphreys said.

Sound familiar? It should. That’s been Georgia’s DNA since Smart arrived back at his alma mater in 2016.

Humphreys’ 28-yard over-the-shoulder touchdown catch from Gunner Stockton in the corner of the end zone with 2:38 to play epitomized a win the Bulldogs didn’t necessarily “deserve” to win. Georgia’s collective backs were to the wall, and the orange-and-white checkerboard crowd was deafening. But Stockton dropped in one of the prettiest throws you’ll ever see on fourth-and-6, and Stockton then followed up that throw with a 2-point conversion dart to Zachariah Branch to tie the game at 38-38.

After Tennessee’s Max Gilbert missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt at the end of regulation, Georgia did what it always seems to do under Smart.

Find a way to win, especially against Tennessee.

This makes it nine straight wins in the series for the Bulldogs, who held the No. 15 Vols to a field goal on their turn in overtime and then got a Josh McCray 2-yard touchdown run (confirmed by replay) to escape in a game that featured 998 yards of total offense and two quarterbacks (Stockton and Tennessee’s Joey Aguilar) taking turns making dazzling plays.

When it was over, Smart tugged on his visor and shrugged when asked if these are the types of games all teams have to win somewhere along the way if they’re going to have a special season.

“I mean, I would prefer it not be this early in the season, but it doesn’t get any easier from here,” Smart said. “Look, our league, and I don’t know what’s going on in college football today, but this league is tough. I mean, every Saturday, I think games are going to be like that. I told our team that I would not be shocked at all if it’s a fourth-quarter game and it comes down to one possession — which it did.”

What does Smart know about his team three games into the season?

“Well, I think we know who we are,” Smart said. ” I don’t mean this directed at Tennessee, but I told our players, ‘There’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard and a lot of people don’t know what that saying means, but there was a lot of whistling by the graveyard and that ain’t who we are. And I’m not saying I think Tennessee is. They’re physical and they’re tough, but there was a lot of outside whistling by the graveyard, a little bit of acting like one thing. But we feel like our team has a certain identity and we’re not going to go down without a fight.

“We’re nowhere near where we need to be. We’re a long way from being there, but boy, we’ve got some kids that aren’t afraid to fight.”

In other words, Georgia is still Georgia. And while the Bulldogs may have lost 31 players to the NFL draft over the last three years and their quarterback, Stockton, is anything but a prototypical NFL quarterback, this is a Georgia team that’s only going to get better.

“We’re going to keep fighting until the game’s over,” said Stockton, who finished 23-of-31 for 304 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. “That’s what our team is built on.”

Stockton filled in for the injured Carson Beck last season in the SEC championship game and in the playoff loss to Notre Dame, but this is his team now. He’s got that “aw shucks” demeanor about him off the field, but his teammates swear by his toughness, selflessness and fearlessness.

Smart said before the season that Stockton had “winner written all over him” and that he’d been a “winner his whole life,” be it football, baseball or anything else. Georgia linebacker Raylen Wilson called Stockton a “dog” Saturday night, the good kind.

“That’s the way he plays, nothing affects him,” Wilson said.

Smart said he still wants to see Stockton become more assertive in the pocket and make plays down the field, especially with his ability to escape.

“He’s so tough,” Smart said. “I mean, he takes shot after shot. I thought he did a good job with the run game. I’m talking about his run game. It saved us on a couple third downs in the red area. He made a couple runs. That plus-one run game can be big for us if he can protect himself. I thought he grew up tonight. He grew up a lot. He stood in there and the fourth-down throw he made was really good and the protection was better. I still want him to trust the pocket and stay in there, but that’s who he is.

“I think we’re going to evolve with him where he can scramble and make some really big time plays if he’ll keep his eyes downfield when he scrambles.”

The Bulldogs rushed for 198 yards, and 121 of those came after halftime. Four different running backs carried the ball.

“Well, that’s who we are,” Smart said. “If we’re going to be good this year, we’re going to have to run the ball. We’re not going to drop back 35, 40 times a game with Gunner and be a drop-back passing team. We can’t play behind in games. We can’t do that. We have to be a play-action run, let our quarterback make some design runs, which he did. I mean, it worked to perfection other than the fact we couldn’t stop them defensively.”

Smart said he might have overworked the defense last week in preparation for Tennessee’s up-tempo approach on offense, but said the defense “ain’t losing their confidence” despite some of the big plays the Bulldogs allowed. Aguilar threw four touchdown passes, three that were 32 yards or longer.

In the end, Smart said the difference was Georgia’s conditioning.

“We felt like we were a better conditioned team,” Smart said.

Georgia should also be a rested team and healthier team when it returns home to face Alabama in two weeks. Both teams will have byes, and Georgia has won 33 in a row at Sanford Stadium, the longest home winning streak in SEC history. The Bulldogs also get Ole Miss and Texas at home later this season.

But only three games into the season, Smart — in vintage fashion — can’t see past the next practice, especially with so many teams in the SEC looking like anybody can beat anybody on any Saturday. For that matter, Georgia could see Tennessee again in the SEC championship game or even the playoff. The Vols were playing shorthanded without their best two defensive linemen and best two cornerbacks.

Just in the first three weeks, Texas A&M has beaten Notre Dame, Oklahoma has beaten Michigan and Mississippi State has beaten Arizona State. Alabama has regrouped from its season-opening loss to Florida State to look dominant the past two weeks, including a 38-14 rout of Wisconsin on Saturday. Within the league, Vanderbilt looks stronger each week and hammered South Carolina 31-7 on the road Saturday. Ole Miss beat Arkansas on Saturday with its second-team quarterback, and Arkansas was diriving late to potentially win that game on the road behind uber-talented quarterback Taylen Green but fumbled in the final minutes. Auburn plays at Oklahoma this coming Saturday, and in two weeks, Auburn plays at Texas A&M, LSU at Ole Miss and Tennessee at Mississippi State.

And the headliner that weekend is Alabama at Georgia, the two teams that have combined to win the last five SEC championships.

“You just never know in this league, right?” Smart said. “The schedules we have are just so hard and who knows what could happen in this league? There’s a lot of really good teams, so it’s going to be about who can avoid injuries, which they’re down some guys. We’re down guys. (Offensive tackle) Earnest (Greene) couldn’t finish the second half, and then we had to go to our third and fourth tackle. It’s just crazy, the depth levels that I think are going to be all over college football.”

But the scariest part for the rest of the league is that Georgia’s best is yet to come, and surviving a road test the way the Bulldogs did Saturday — deserving or not — is only going to prepare them for what comes next.

Even if Smart has to apologize.

“I feel almost like you have to apologize because I don’t think that we should have won that game. I thought they outplayed us in a lot of ways,” Smart said. “But that’s the way it goes.”

And will keep going in what should be a wild ride in the SEC this season.