One of the biggest remaining games of the college football regular season will take place on Saturday night when Tennessee takes on Georgia in Athens.
Tennessee is currently in a great spot to make the College Football Playoff for the first time if it continues to win. The Volunteers are one of just two SEC teams (along with Texas) with just one loss, and they currently sit in a tie for first place in the conference with Texas A&M.
A win over Georgia on Saturday would essentially secure Tennessee's spot in Atlanta for the SEC Championship game. Josh Heupel and company would still only have one conference loss with just a game against Vanderbilt left on the schedule, and Texas and Texas A&M still have to play each other.
However, Tennessee may be without quarterback Nico Iamaleava for the big game after he suffered a head injury on Saturday against Mississippi State. Iamaleava is listed as questionable on the Volunteers' official injury report, according to Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports.
Iamaleava has been in concussion protocol during the week, but he was able to practice on Monday and Tuesday. However, he still may not be able to go on Saturday if he continues to fail to make it out of the concussion protocol.
Tennessee running game must carry them against Georgia
Whether Nico Iamaleava is able to play on Saturday or not, Tennessee must be able to lean into its strengths and run the football if it wants to come away with a win.
Running back Dylan Sampson has been the engine of this offense all season while Iamaleava has experienced some growing pains and some ups and downs during his first year as the starter. However, Sampson has almost always been there to keep the team on the right track. For the season, Sampson has carried the ball 201 times for 1,129 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Tennessee's passing offense has really struggled against some of the better defenses on its schedule. Throughout SEC play, the Volunteers have been inconsistent through the air, but Sampson has provided a consistent spark for this team. This matchup against Georgia should be no different, as the Bulldogs have been extremely hard to move the ball against through the air.
A few teams have had success running the ball against Georgia so far this season. Ole Miss wasn't extremely efficient on the ground in its win last week, but the Rebels dud run for 133 yards as a whole on the day. In Georgia's first loss of the season, Alabama ran for 173 yards on 32 carries.
Tennessee doesn't quite have the same threat of the quarterback run — with or without Iamaleava — that Alabama does with Jalen Milroe behind center, but they can really pound the rock with Sampson. Whether they're able to do that or not will go a long way towards deciding if they can upset Georgia on Saturday.
Follow Us
Subscribe
