Tennessee will be more comfortable playing in Athens than at home, said Gary Danielson, CBS’s lead college football analyst.
The 3-1 Volunteers play fifth-ranked and undefeated Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on CBS.
“Tennessee stood toe to toe with Florida for the good part of three quarters, and then they got punched in the mouth one time with a big play. After that they seemed to go out of their comfort zone and panicked,” Danielson said.
“They need to learn from that. I believe they are going to be more comfortable on the road than at Neyland Stadium. They feel the pressure at home trying to please their big crowd. Tyler Bray is good enough with those receivers that he can make Georgia play very honest on defense. This should be Tennessee’s best effort of the year. If this one goes down or gets embarrassing, they’ve got trouble ahead.”
Danielson called Georgia’s defense one of the five best in the nation, noting the Bulldogs have interchangeable parts at multiple positions.
To pull off the upset, the Vols must be patient with the run.
“If they can’t run the ball, Georgia’s front seven rush will give them a lot of problems," he said. "Tennessee will devote a lot of time and effort to make sure they get first downs and not get into a shootout. Look for them to try and establish tight end Mychal Rivera to move the chains.”
Live streaming of the game begins at 3:20 p.m. ET on CBSSports.com's SEC Live. Streaming includes the halftime show and a postgame show from the booth featuring Danielson.
For a complete preview of this SEC East showdown, click here.
For more up-to-the-minute news and analysis from SEC bloggers Daniel Lewis and Larry Hartstein, follow @CBSSportsSEC.
