ATHENS — It will go down as one for the ages.
Future Tennessee fans surely will talk about it long after we are all gone.
How present-day Georgia fans will want to remember Saturday’s unbelievably gut-wrenching 34-31 loss to Tennessee on a 43-yard Hail Mary pass with no time left is probably open to debate.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart, however, said the end made him sick to his stomach.
“I’m sick about it for those kids in the locker room,” he said in his post-game interview. “But, the game wasn’t about just that last play. There were a lot of things that happened to get us to that play. Undisciplined play got us beat, especially on special teams.
“We had the penalty after the big pass play and then gave up the kickoff return. Without those they aren’t down there to have a chance. We told our guys before the game that Tennessee has probably the best special teams group we will see. They showed it.
“This will be a learning lesson for them hopefully for the rest of the season and for life. Undisciplined play will always get you beat. Tennessee is a senior-laden team with a lot of experience and they were more disciplined than us and that was the difference.”
On the final play, senior Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs was able to elude a couple of rushers and heave the ball into the end zone where sophomore Jauan Jennings was able to outjump four Georgia defenders and come down with the ball as time expired for the improbable win.
Senior Maurice Smith said the final play was tough to take.
“There’s so much emotion involved. Once the ball comes down you’re hoping that the people did their job and knocked it down,” he said. “But to see it just fall into somebody’s hands and you see their team running on the field, it’s just heartbreak. We expect everyone to do their job, but we’ll clean it up.”
Undisciplined or not, Jacob Eason and Riley Ridley, for about five minutes anyway, made a pitch for instant immortalization when the two freshmen connected on an improbable 47-yard touchdown pass with just 10 seconds left to give the Bulldogs (3-2, 1-2 SEC East) a 31-28 lead.
The play was even more unexpected after a penalty had forced Georgia to use its final timeout with 19 seconds left to keep from having a 10-second runoff.
And add to that just moments before Eason had pump-faked in his own end zone only to lose the ball and have the Vols’ Corey Vereen pounce on it for a touchdown to give Tennessee its first lead of the game, 28-24, with 2:56 left.
“The thing about Jacob is that he doesn’t worry about the last play,” Smart said. “The play in the end zone was not a good decision. But he’s shown he’s able to come right back from something like that.
“On the touchdown he extended the play and he’s got a tremendous arm and can throw behind the defense. Riley made a nice play. But all the freshmen today made mistakes. They also made plays. The goal is to be more consistent and that’s what we’re working on.”
Questions swirled around the Bulldogs all week after a less-than-lackluster performance in a 45-14 drubbing handed to them by Ole Miss last Saturday. Some questioned the heart of the team.
Smart said he saw none of that this week.
“These kids fought to the end,” he said. “I was proud of them. The leaders on this team stepped up. It’s hard to lose a game like this.
“But I’m tired of moral victories. These kids deserved to win the game. But they didn’t and the ‘why’ is more important than anything else.”
The why may be found in that Georgia was just 5-of-14 on third down conversions while the Vols were 9-of-15, including a huge 17-yard scramble by Dobbs on a 3rd-and-15 at the Georgia 25 with 36 seconds left in the first half. Tennessee trailed 17-0 at the time. Three plays later Dobbs converted again on third down with a 4-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds left to cut it to 17-7 at halftime.
Tennessee used that momentum to take the opening possession of the third quarter 65-yards in 10-plays, capped by a 19-yard pass from Dobbs to Jalen Hurd to cut the lead to 17-14.
“Tennessee has the most experienced team in the SEC and (Dobbs) knows how to make plays and he did,” Smart said. “I’ve seen him do that for the last several years.”
Georgia answered that, however, when Eason found former Buford standout Isaac Nauta down the middle of the field and the freshman tight end outraced the Vols defense for a 50-yard strike to push the lead back to 24-14 late in the third quarter.
But Dobbs guided the Vols back capping a 6-play drive in just 1:51 with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Kamara on the first play of the fourth quarter to pull back within 24-21.
It stayed that way until the frantic final 2:56 of the game. It was the fourth game this season that Tennessee (5-0, 2-0) has rallied from a 17-point or more deficit to win.
In the first half Georgia showed it was not ready to abandon its 2016 season after last week’s debacle.
The Bulldogs built a 17-0 lead in the first half on a 14-yard touchdown run by Sony Michel late in the first quarter, a 27-yard field goal by Rodrigo Blankenship, and then having Eason fall on a fumble recovery in the end zone with just 2:00 left in the first half.
Nauta had a breakout game with five catches for 83 yards to lead the Georgia receiving corp. Michel finished with 91 yards rushing on 16 carries and freshman Brian Herrien had another strong game with 77 yards on 15 carries in place of Nick Chubb, who had one carry for 3 yards..
“Nauta works hard and he had a good day,” Smart said. “We didn’t try to look for him or any of the other tight ends specifically. Things just kind of came to him today.”
Eason finished 17-for-28 passing for 211 yards and two touchdowns and one interception and was sacked three times, including the huge fumble in the end zone.
Dobbs was 16-for-26 for 230 yards and three touchdowns and one interception and he was sacked twice.
SCORING SUMMARY
Tennessee....0....7......7....20 -- 34
Georgia.........7....10....7.....7 -- 31
First Quarter
G -- Michel 14 run (Blankenship kick) 7-0, 1:33
Second Quarter
G -- Blankenship 27 FG 10-0, 11:21
G -- Eason 0 fumble recovery (Blankenship kick) 17-0, 2:00
T -- Dobbs 4 run (Medley kick) 17-7, 0:12
Third Quarter
T -- Hurd 19 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick) 17-14, 10:31
G -- Nauta 50 pass from Eason (Blankenship kick) 24-14, 4:07
Fourth Quarter
T -- Kamara 16 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick) 24-21, 14:53
T -- Vereen 0 fumble recovery (Medley kick) 28-24, 2:56
G -- Ridley 47 pass from Eason (Blankenship kick) 31-28, 0:10
T -- Jennings 43 pass from Dobbs 34-31, 0:00
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/10/452191/houdini-vols-do-it-again-on-hail-mary-to-beat-dogs