Tennessee Finds a Hedge Against Defeat

Tennessee hardly looked like the same team. Neither did Georgia.

Bouncing back from a dismal loss at home the week before, No. 17 Tennessee got two touchdown passes from freshman Erik Ainge and held on for a 19-14 upset of the third-ranked Bulldogs on Saturday.

The Volunteers (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) looked terrible in a 34-10 loss to Auburn -- especially Ainge, who threw four interceptions and lost a fumble in his first college start.

The freshman was much better in his first college road game, helping end Georgia’s 17-game home winning streak between the hedges. Ainge completed 12 of 21 passes for 150 yards and, most important, had no turnovers.

Georgia (4-1, 2-1) didn’t come close to duplicating its previous game, a near-perfect 45-16 rout of defending SEC champion LSU. David Greene struggled against Tennessee’s zone coverages and the Bulldogs kept hurting themselves with penalties.

“I can’t explain it,” said Greene, who threw a school-record five touchdown passes against LSU. “I couldn’t explain it last week, and I can’t explain it today.”

Greene was only 15 for 34 for 163 yards and failed to throw a touchdown pass.

Tennessee, a 12 1/2 -point underdog, built a 10-0 lead and held off the Bulldogs at the end. Georgia squandered a chance to take control of the SEC East, which is up for grabs again.

Georgia, Tennessee and Florida tied for first place last season, with the Bulldogs claiming the spot in the SEC title game because of their higher ranking in the BCS.

“This is a tough loss,” Coach Mark Richt said. “It puts us behind the eight-ball in our division. We’ve got to keep winning. There’s no margin for error.”

Driving from its own 12 to the Tennessee 19, Georgia had one shot at the end zone with a second remaining. But Greene’s pass over the middle didn’t come close to connecting with anyone, falling harmlessly to the ground.

Tennessee ended a four-game losing streak in the series, beating Georgia for the first time since 1999.

“You could tell they didn’t have a lot of respect for us,” Ainge said.

Undeterred by Ainge’s performance against Auburn, Coach Phillip Fulmer started him again. The Vols’ other freshman quarterback, Brent Schaeffer, played only one series.

Tennessee built on a 13-7 lead after stuffing a fake punt by the Bulldogs late in the third quarter. Ainge threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Chris Hannon that made it 19-7 with 14:04 remaining in the game.

Danny Ware’s one-yard touchdown run with 4:22 to play made it closer, but ultimately the Bulldogs were their own worst enemy. After getting called for only one penalty against LSU, they were flagged 12 times for 82 yards. The most crucial call came in the second quarter, when Bryan McClendon returned a kickoff to the Tennessee two, only to have it wiped out by a holding penalty.

Also, Andy Bailey missed a 29-yard field goal that might have made things easier on the Bulldogs in the final minute.

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Georgia Home Runs

Tennessee’s 19-14 victory over Georgia ended the Bulldogs’ 17-game home winning streak. A look at Georgia’s longest home winning streaks and the teams that ended them.

*--* No. Years How it ended 24 1980-83 13-7 loss to Auburn (Nov. 12, 1983) 17 2001-04 19-14 loss to Tennessee (Oct. 9, 2004) 12 1975-77 7-6 loss to Clemson (Sept. 17, 1977) 12 1958-61 32-6 loss to Alabama (Sept. 23, 1961) 12 1920-22 12-0 loss to Vanderbilt (Nov. 18, 1922)

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