ATHENS, Ga. — It was the kind of drive that symbolized Tennessee’s sorrowful first half of the season, six games that introduced us to Phillip Fulmer’s new expression of frustration — right hand pulling a hat over his face. Not even he can watch.

Georgia, a 26-14 winner, held the ball at its own 3-yard line with 2:17 left in the first half Saturday, content to run the ball and maintain a 13-7 halftime lead despite dominating the game. The visiting Volunteers even called time out after one Knowshon Moreno run, a sign they would resist accepting a six-point deficit.

You can say the Vols are inept on offense and make some of the dumbest, pull-the-hat-over-your-eyes-type plays ever witnessed, and you would be right, but you cannot say they quit. They are almost too eager, oblivious to the fact they are not very good. They are like the kid who gets knocked down continuously and still gets back up, wide-eyed and bruised but ready to accept more. They are Rudy without the feel-good story.

Fulmer meant well with the timeout. The Vols had kept the Georgia fans nervous in a game they easily could have lost by 40 points, scoring all 14 points off turnovers and stymieing the Bulldogs close to the goal line. They don’t give up easily.

So Fulmer calls time out, and the Bulldogs say, fine, we’ll just march right down the field and obliterate your confidence heading into halftime. Typical Tennessee — getting back up when it should have remained down. The Vols’ will is admirable. But it was a 97-yard march that encapsulated every memory the fans in orange — and they were noticeably few in number Saturday — will attempt to forget.

On third-and-8, Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford threw short of the first-down marker to Moreno, who sprinted through Tennessee’s defense and got the first down.

Watching Moreno in person is a different experience than the TV version. He glides, not runs, across the field, and the sight of the sideline makes him sprint the other way in horror that he might, gasp, go out of bounds. Even when he’s brought to the ground, Moreno doesn’t stay down long. He’s up again and moving, as if the ground were covered in hot coals.

For the video-game person who plays as Georgia, the buttons on the latest consoles don’t do Moreno justice. He has the one-foot spin, the full-body spin, the side-to-side juke and, as we know, the ability to leap over grown men. To Tennessee, on this play, he was a person they could not tackle. The drive continued.

Tennessee eventually committed two personal-foul penalties on the drive, DeAngelo Willingham finally electing to slam down Demiko Goodman somewhere around Winder. The hat went over the eyes.

On third-and-3, Tennessee so close to another stop, Stafford hit a wide-open Mohamed Massaquoi in the end zone to give Georgia a 20-7 lead just before half. Take that. We tried to leave, Georgia was saying, but you made us stay out there.

For Georgia, on a gloomy, cloudy day in Athens, a wide array of emotions were expressed in the locker room. The Bulldogs relieved themselves of the misery Alabama brought them, moving the ball with ease and stuffing Tennessee’s rushing game. They dominated much more than the 26-14 final indicated, which also brings a level of frustration.

Stafford, who finally shed the label of best SEC quarterback not to throw for 300 yards in a game, tossed two interceptions in the red zone. On three other occasions, Georgia settled for field goals. A.J. Green, the outstanding freshman, dropped a ball in the end zone.

“I feel like we gave it to them all day,” Stafford said. “Their points came off of our turnovers. We left some points out there.”

But this is Tennessee football in 2008, so Georgia’s struggles only made the game interesting for another quarter. Auburn couldn’t score against air and beat Tennessee. UCLA played like a below-average Southern Conference team and beat Tennessee.

It’s enough for all Tennessee fans to pull a hat over their eyes. Just don’t keep it down too long, because these Vols always get back up. Even when they should probably just go to the locker room for halftime.

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