KNOXVILLE, Tn.— For the first time since 2009, the Georgia Bulldogs have found out what life is like to lose to the Tennessee Volunteers following a 38-31 final inside Neyland Stadium. The game could have seemed doomed from the very first play of the game, when sophomore running back Nick Chubb suffered a gruesome knee injury.
He would miss the rest of the game and afterwards head coach Mark Richt was cautiously optimistic about his standout player.
“He was in pain,” Richt said. “(It was) physical and mental pain, knowing that he wasn’t going to be able to finish out this game. I really don’t know for sure. I’m optimistic that it won’t need surgery. But, I’ can’t say that 100 percent.”
In the second quarter, the Bulldogs squandered a 21 point lead, with Tennessee outscoring Georgia 35-7 the rest of the way after Georgia got out to a 24-3 lead.
It was a 39 yard touchdown pass from Alpharetta native Joshua Dobbs to wide receiver Josh Smith. The following kickoff, Georgia running back Sony Michel received the kick and had the football knocked out of his hands. Tennessee would recover then then score on a few plays later when Dobbs found Norcross product Alvin Kamara from two yards out to make it 24-17.
From there, the Vols outscored Georgia 21-7 in the final 30 minutes of the game.
It can be said that the game turned at that point and Michel says that’s why he feels like he is responsible for this loss.
“I kind of want to take this game upon myself,” Michel said. “I felt like we lost this game because of me.”
Michel did finish the game with 145 yards rushing on 22 carries. Plus, he was able to bring in three catches for 26 yards. He became the main running back once Chubb went down with injury.
Michel was able to make plays in the loss. Even though he feels that way, his head coach Mark Richt doesn’t want him to feel that way.
“It’s hard to tell guys what to think,” Richt said. “We certainly didn’t grab him coming off the sideline to badger him and tell him you messed up the game for us. We don’t do that. We encourage him to get back to fundamentals, having the ball high/tight, two hands in traffic and that type of thing.”
Michel’s miscue is pretty well known now that the game finished the way that it did. The Bulldogs also had to deal with the dropped potential touchdown pass by junior wide receiver Reggie Davis.
It was an over the shoulder throw to Davis and it would have been a 44 yard touchdown pass to potentially tie the game. It was a dropped pass and Davis was also beating himself up over the play.
“It’s going to be a tough thing to get over,” Davis said. “As of right now, I’m real upset at myself. My team put faith in me and I let them down.”
Davis had three catches for 101 yards and a touchdown catch in the loss. He also took a punt return 70 yards to the end zone.
Even though he was down on himself, his fellow receiver Malcolm Mitchell wasn’t after the game.
“Reggie had three catches for 101,” Mitchell said. “If we want to look at that, he did his job. Anything else is extra.”
Mitchell was also reminded of the contribution on special teams that Davis made. He continued on to prove his point about Davis.
“That’s 14 points he gave us,” Mitchell said. “Take away 14 and we’re not even close. So, Reggie did his job. I’m proud of him.
Now the Bulldogs will get the Missouri Tigers in town next week, trying to avoid their first three game losing streak since 2010. We should also know more about Chubb’s future a little later today.
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