Richt wary of improved Volunteers

photo Georgia head coach Mark Richt gestures toward the crowd after defeating Troy 66-0 Saturday in Athens, Ga.

The Tennessee Volunteers have shown improvement this football season, and the coach of their fourth foe has taken notice.

Georgia's Mark Richt said Sunday that he has been impressed with the Vols in their second year under coach Butch Jones. Tennessee opened with victories over Utah State (38-7) and Arkansas State (34-19) before losing at No. 3 Oklahoma (34-10), and the Vols have held all three opponents to their lowest point production of the season.

Tennessee is one of the nation's youngest teams but also one of the most disciplined, committing just 21.3 penalty yards per game.

"I've watched them on TV a few times, and I've had a chance to watch them a little bit today, and the thing I see more than anything is just a high level of energy," Richt said. "I see a bunch of guys playing really hard and playing with maximum effort. They look very well-coached, and they look really excited about playing.

"I was told in the offseason that they were the only team in the country that had their whole offensive and defensive line groups leave. There is certainly a learning curve there, but I just see a bunch of guys playing hard."

Georgia opened Sunday as a 19-point favorite over Tennessee, which has lost four straight in the series and has not won in Sanford Stadium since 2006.

The Vols were off this past weekend, while Georgia was dismantling Troy 66-0 to improve to 2-1. The Bulldogs rushed 39 times for 367 yards in thumping the Trojans, with junior starter Todd Gurley rushing six times for 73 yards and freshman backup Sony Michel adding 10 for 155 with three touchdowns.

Georgia has run the ball 118 times so far this season and is averaging 304 rushing yards per game. The Bulldogs have attempted 70 passes and are averaging 167.3 aerial yards per contest.

"There is no doubt we have a talented bunch of backs, and we're run-blocking pretty good," Richt said. "It's not a bad way to play a ball game. It helps play-action pass, which we like doing and always have. This last game we might have seen what it would be like to throw it 50 times a game to see what kind of success we could have, but we just felt like it was more important to take what they gave us.

"They didn't really pack the box and played more two-safety looks than we thought they would. There were some times we had some passes called where we checked to a run because we felt like they were vulnerable."

Georgia's average this season of 7.73 yards per carry ranks second nationally to Wisconsin, while Gurley averaging 9.8 yards per rush. Richt said there were no health issues related to Gurley coming out of Saturday's game in the second quarter.

"I didn't remember what the score was when we said, 'No more,' but we just didn't feel like he needed to be in there," Richt said. "I don't know how he felt about it, and we didn't really ask him. Hopefully, he understood that he'll have more energy this week and that we're going to need it."

Odds and ends

Georgia moved up a spot to 12th in the Associated Press poll and 13th in the USA Today coaches poll. ... Richt expects senior cornerback Damian Swann (head) and sophomore safety Quincy Mauger (shoulder) to be ready for Saturday but did not have an update on junior tailback Keith Marshall's knee, reiterating that it's structurally fine and that there are no ACL issues. ... Freshman tailback Nick Chubb, who wore a club against Troy to protect his thumb, will have a milder brace against Tennessee. ... Georgia has suffered only one turnover this season, which ranks tied for first nationally.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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