Georgia has to fix its issues on defense

After giving up 496 total yards of offense on Saturday in the win over Tennessee, sophomore linebacker Chris Cole knows the bye week couldn’t come at a better time for the Georgia Bulldogs’ defense.

“It’s definitely a great way to get better as a team, just so, watch film and see what we could have done better and just go back to the basics and just go back to what we’ve been doing and just get better as a team,” Cole said of the bye week.

A full 371 of those yards came via the Tennessee passing game. Despite it being quarterback Joey Aguilar‘s first year in the Volunteers’ system, the Appalachian State transfer made it look relatively easy against Georgia’s defense in the early going.

The Bulldogs quickly found themselves in a 21-7 first-half deficit, with Aguilar passing for two of those scores, while running for the other.

“Just staying calm, you know, we’ve been in that, you know, we’ve kind of had adversity before so just staying calm and just seeing what we can do better, on film, on the sidelines and making our adjustments and going back on film and competing,” Cole said of the defense’s mindset in that moment.

Now, as the Bulldogs turn the page on Saturday, they use the bye week to shore up their pass defense. Yet, as Cole revealed, it will take more than just the secondary for Georgia to defend better against the pass.

“Just need to work on just working as a team, just doing our job,” Cole said. “And that starts as a team, it’s not only our secondary, but it starts as the whole defense, you know, get more pressure on the QB before he doesn’t have time just to sit in the pocket and be able to make those throws.”

Aguilar finished with four touchdowns with two interceptions while completing 24 of his 36 passes. While Georgia’s defense was able to apply pressure on Aguilar, they only managed one sack.

In the four prior matchups with Josh Heupel’s Tennessee, it was Georgia’s ability to slow down the Volunteers’ offense that made the difference. That wasn’t how Saturday played out. However, despite finding themselves in a shootout with Tennessee, Georgia still found a way to win.

“We felt good just to get that type of win,” Cole said. “The SEC is a hard place to play, and that being our first opponent and that type of game was awesome, so we felt good.”