Vegas set the line (~20 points, depending on which bookie you're looking at) with both eyes on the 4th quarter.
Our lads are going to be worn out by the 4th quarter. Georgia's going to pad their score in the 4th quarter.
But those first two to three quarters, I'm looking forward to that.
It's the irresistible force (Vols offense) against the immovable object (UGa's defense). It's going to be super interesting.
Hooker's going to have to make even faster reads than normal, and get rid of the ball. Because white jerseys with red helmets atop them are inbound. Every play.
Running yards are going to be hard to find. Runs between the tackles will usually hit a wall of bodies (ours and theirs) at or before the line of scrimmage. Traps won't even work, half the time. We might find a way to break contain on one edge or the other and make some money off sweeps to that side, for a little while, but even that will probably close up as the UGa coaching staff adjusts. QB scrambles will not work; even Hendon's favorite spin move is not going to help him much. He's going to have to be even more conscientious than normal about protecting the ball, or we'll lose fast from a rash of turnovers. In a word, the run game will be frustrating. At best.
Can we make hay on the passing game? That's the key to this whole thing, I'm thinking. If we can find success in a quick passing attack (not screens, necessarily, but the ball has to be gone before "3 mississippi" each play), then we'll hang tough through the first two to three quarters.
Sadly, that's when we're going to hit the wall of depth. More specifically, our lack thereof.
I don't have a lot of hope for a "W" this Saturday. I'm just hoping we can make them nervous for three full quarters.
Go Vols!