Following No. 3 Georgia’s solid 44-21 victory over Tennessee, the Volunteers’ Jeremy Pruitt met with the media, along with a few of his players, to discuss the loss they were handed tonight in Athens. The Tennessee head coach began by giving credit where credit was due in this game of two halves, followed by taking the blame for the setback.

“I’d like to give credit to Georgia. They really outplayed us in the second half,” Pruitt said following the loss. “You can’t turn the ball over three times against anybody and expect to win… We also made a lot of mistakes on the defensive side, especially on third down. And that’s on me—not on anybody else. That’s on me.

…At halftime, Tennessee surprisingly led, 21-17, on a fumble recovered in the end zone for a score and touchdowns passes covering 36 and 27 yards. However, to begin the second half, the Tennessee offense lost a fumble, threw an interception, punted three times in a row, and then fumbled again for a total of three turnovers in its first six possessions following halftime.

“[Georgia] just came out better in the second half,” said senior receiver Josh Palmer, who was on the receiving end of both of Tennessee’s touchdown passes. “We got to keep from shooting ourselves in the foot, making our own mistakes. They were just the better team in the second half.”

…By dominating both lines of scrimmage, Georgia pulled away to begin the third quarter, outscoring the Volunteers, 27-0, in the second half. Whereas the Bulldogs rushed for nearly 200 yards for the game, they held Tennessee to minus-1 yard rushing on 27 attempts. Although a rarity in its history, the last time Georgia held an opponent to minus-rushing yards was just last season against Texas A&M.

“[Georgia] stopped the run pretty well the whole day,” said Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano. “They made some good second-half adjustments and came in and played a lot of cloud defense and Cover 2, and some three-double cloud. They were able to stop the run and the pass [in the second half], so props to them.”

…After Guarantano completed 11 of 13 passes for 124 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and was not sacked in the first half, the senior signal-caller completed just 12 of 23 passes for 91 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and was sacked five times in the second half. Tennessee totaled just 71 yards following halftime (1.8 yards per play) after gaining 143 (6.0 yards per play) in the first half.

For the game, whereas Georgia’s offense converted 8 of 16 third downs, the Volunteers were just 4-of-17 on third down.

“I think it’s the best defense we’ve seen in the SEC in a long, long time,” Guarantano said. “Every single person in this country who watches college football knows that they probably have the best defense in college football.”

…And, according to Pruitt, it’s pretty simple why they lost to the team with perhaps the best defense in the nation: 1) The Vols couldn’t run the ball; 2) They couldn’t stop Georgia from converting first downs, and 3) Their three second-half turnovers.

“It’s pretty simple guys… It (Tennessee losing) is about turning the ball over three times in the second half. It’s about not getting off the field on third down. It’s about not being able to run the football,” Pruitt said. “To win in this league, you got to be able to run the ball.”