Georgia Bulldogs and QB Gunner Stockton can exploit one key weakness thanks to injuries and inexperience of Tennessee Volunteers
Georgia needs to take advantage of linebackers and slot defenders against Tennessee
The Georgia Bulldogs have defeated the Tennessee Volunteers eight times in a row, 13 of the last 15 times they’ve face them. However, the 2025 version of Georgia isn’t exactly looking like a typical Kirby Smart team just yet.
Quarterback Gunner Stockton cannot create an explosive plays in the passing game. The run game has been fine, but there have been very few big plays generated there either. The good news is that Georgia should have one key weakness to exploit against Tennessee thanks to some injuries and inexperience on their defense that should help them win the day.
Tennessee Volunteers can’t stop anything inside the numbers on defense, where Georgia should flourish
The Tennessee defense has looked decent through the first two weeks against Syracuse and East Tennessee State, but one key weakness has still been taken advantage of consistently–even by both weaker offenses they’ve faced. The Vols can’t seem to stop anything inside the numbers on defense and that’s exactly where Georgia needs to attack them this week.
Both perimeter cornerbacks have been solid in Colton Hood and Ty Redmond, but outside of those two players the defensive back seven has been extremely suspect, to say the least.
Syracuse began attacking from the slot significantly early on in the game as soon as wide receiver Johntay Cook exposed that weakness (as you can see on the big 4th down conversion play in post below). Once they realized how out of sync Tennessee’s defensive interior was beyond the trenches, Syracuse scored 26 points in the next 30 minutes of game play.
All in all, Tennessee gave up seven completions of 20+ yards to six different players on the game against Syracuse. Every single one of them resulted from beating a slot defender, linebacker, or safety.
Gunner Stockton hasn’t been able to find his wide receivers at the second and third levels of the field just yet this season (and he still needs to get better there), but picking the right matchups inside the numbers against the Vols might be the perfect next step towards creating explosive plays for Georgia. There should certainly be plenty of opportunity there.
Tennessee still has key defenders injured heading into Georgia game
Part of the reason why Tennessee has struggled so much inside the numbers in their defensive secondary has been a few key injuries that have kept out significant contributors. Luckily for Georgia, per the SEC injury report released this week via the Vols, both cornerbacks Rickey Gibson and Jermod McCoy are still out.
Jermod McCoy might be the best defensive back in the country. Rickey Gibson was slated to be a starter this year too. Missing both of those talents has forced deep typically buried backups onto the field early this year. Those same struggling backups will be manning the slot again this week.
Georgia still has to execute on a down to down basis better than they have thus far if they want to beat Tennessee (again) this weekend, but thanks to injuries and that key weakness inside the numbers the Bulldogs should have their winning formula in place.
We’ll be back with more Georgia Bulldogs coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
