2022 Tennessee vs. Georgia football game

The 2022 Tennessee vs. Georgia football game was a major college football game between the AP-top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs vs the AP-second-ranked (tied with Ohio State) and CFP-top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. The game is considered a "Game of the Century", as it pitted the two top-ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, and it was the first such regular-season game since the 2019 LSU vs. Alabama game. It started on November 5, 2022, at 3:40 PM. No. 3 Georgia won in a one-sided shootout 27-13. Both teams entered the game undefeated and tied for first place in the Southeastern Conference's East Division. As of November 9, 2022, the game was the most watched game of the 2022 season with an estimated 13.1 million views.
Following the game, Georgia jumped to 9-0 and to No. 1 in all polls. Tennessee dropped to 8-1 and No. 5 in all polls. On Saturday, November 12th, Georgia won the SEC East title, and will play LSU, the winner of the SEC West, in the 2022 SEC Championship Game.
Teams
Tennessee
Tennessee started out the season unranked. They played Ball State at home and pulled off a 59-10 win. They were then ranked at No. 24. Then, they went to Pittsburgh to play the No. 17-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers in which they pulled off a 34-27 win in overtime. They then jumped to No. 15 in the AP poll and beat Akron, 63-6. As the No. 11 team in the nation, they played the No. 20 Florida Gators, and narrowly won 38-33. Then, ranked No. 8, they traveled to No. 25 LSU and won 40-13. They traveled back to Tennessee and had to play the No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide. They ended up winning 52-49 on a field goal in an offensive shootout, which was their first win for the Third Saturday in October since 2006. They jumped to No. 3 and faced the UT Martin Skyhawks, and won 65-24. Afterward, they had a black-out game against No. 19 Kentucky, winning 44-6. The Volunteers jumped to No. 2 in the AP poll, tied with Ohio State, and was ranked No. 1 in the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings.
Georgia
Georgia began the season as the No. 3 ranked team in both the AP and Coaches Polls. In the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game, Georgia defeated No. 11 Oregon 49-3. The following week, after jumping to No. 2 in both polls,Georgia defeated No. 25-FCS-ranked Samford 33-0. Georgia would jump to No. 1 in the AP Poll before defeating South Carolina 48-7 on the road.Georgia would return to Athens as the No. 1 team in both polls. Georgia would go on to defeat Kent State 39-22. The following week at Missouri, Georgia would trail 12-22 in the fourth quarter. After 14 unanswered points, Georgia would win the game 26-22. Georgia would return home for a two game home stretch including victories over rivals Auburn and Vanderbilt before a bye week. Following the bye week, Georgia would defeat Florida 42-20. During the game, Nolan Smith would tear a pectoral muscle, prematurely ending his season. Georgia would remain No. 1 in the AP and Coaches Polls, but was ranked No. 3 in the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings.
Game summary
The game was scheduled for kickoff at 3:30 p.m. EST, though this was pushed back to 3:40 p.m. ESPN broadcast their pre-game show College GameDay live from Georgia's campus in Athens, Georgia, where a sell-out crowd of 92,746 were in attendance at Sanford Stadium. During the game, Georgia tributed Vince Dooley and Charley Trippi. The game was broadcast nationwide on CBS as part of SEC on CBS. The broadcast team consisted of Brad Nessler as the play-by-play commentator, Gary Danielson as the color commentator, and Jenny Dell as the sideline reporter. Jason Autrey served as the game's referee.During the game, the noise level in the stadium rose to a high of 132.6 decibels.
First quarter
Tennessee won the coin toss and elected to defer, giving Georgia possession of the ball to start the game. Paxton Brooks performed a 59-yard kickoff that was received by Daijun Edwards, who returned it 17 yards to start the Bulldog's first series at their own 23-yard line. An 11 yard rush by Kenny McIntosh and ten yard reception by Brock Bowers put Georgia into Tennessee territory. The next play, Daijun Edwards would fumble the ball and Tennessee would recover at Georgia's 47-yard line. On Tennessee's first drive of the game, Hendon Hooker would complete passes to Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman while driving to Georgia's 30-yard line. Tennessee's 36 yard punt gave Georgia possession at Tennessee's 37-yard line. The next play Bennett would complete a 37-yard touchdown pass to Ladd McConkey to increase Georgia's lead to 14-3.<ref name":0" />Tennessee was only able to gain one first down on their next drive, being forced to punt where a interference would be called on them. On second down Bennett would find McIntosh for a 49-yard pass play to set up a first down on the Volunteers 14-yard line. Georgia would then run the ball twice giving them a first and goal to end the quarter.<ref name":0" />
Second quarter
Georgia began the second quarter on the Volunteers four-yard line. After a rush for a loss of a yard, Bennett would throw a five-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint to extend the Bulldog's lead to 21-3. A touchback then placed Tennessee at their 25 to begin their first drive of the quarter. Holding penalties from Javon Bullard and Kelee Ringo helped the Volunteers drive to Georgia's 33-yard line.<ref name":0" /> Hooker would then find Cedric Tillman for 16 yards to get Tennessee deep in Georgia territory. After rushes of six and two yards, the Volunteers were facing a third down and short from the Bulldog's nine-yard line. However back-to-back false start penalties forced a third down and long. After an incomplete pass, the Volunteers would kick a 36-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 21-6. <ref name":0" />After a touchback, the Bulldogs started on their own 25. After a medium pass and short run for a first down, Georgia would stall before a false start penalty made it a long third down that the Bulldogs were not able to convert being forced to punt it away.<ref name":0" /> Tennessee started on their own 31 before driving. A 17 yard pass to Cedric Tillman and short runs, got the Volunteers to the Bulldogs 39-yard line before Hooker would throw just his second interception of the season to Kelee Ringo for a touchback.<ref name":0" /> From there, Georgia would run out the remaining clock while driving to Tennessee's two-yard line with a few seconds in the half. The Bulldogs would elect to kick a 19-yard field goal and it gave them a lead of 24-6 entering halftime.<ref name=":0" />
Scoring summary

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