Recap of Tennessee’s Aerial Assault of QB Hendon Hooker and WRs Cedric Tillman and Jalin Hyatt vs. Georgia’s CB Kelee Ringo.
Tennessee was overmatched in this one as their offense had their worst game of the year in a 27-13 loss to Georgia. Hendon Hooker really struggled to get things going throughout the contest. He constantly found himself under pressure, and he didn’t react to it well. Many times, after looking through his first read, he was unable to get to the next one and looked to have a lack of pocket presence and sensing when to bail and get out of the pocket to use his legs or throw it away. All cannot be blamed on Hooker due to his offensive line being outmatched and several false start penalties, which really put the offense in a lot of second- and third-and-long situations which is where Georgia’s defense feasts. The lack of time to throw affected the Tennessee wide receivers Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, as they were constantly found working underneath routes. There were a couple of times Hyatt got loose behind the defense with his game-breaking speed, but Hooker was only able to connect with him gain of over 20 yards once through the air, which was the only completion over 20 yards on the day. The main contributor on the back half for Georgia was Kelee Ringo, who found himself consistently matched up with Tillman. Ringo, at times, found himself out-leveraged by Tillman in underneath routes but held his own and recorded six tackles, making sure never to let small gains turn into big plays. His play of the day came in the second quarter. In one of the few moments of the game where Tennessee had some momentum, they took a shot in Georgia territory on a go-route to Cedric Tillman, who had 1-on-1 coverage with Ringo. Ringo played it perfectly with Tillman on his back and ran perfectly under Hooker’s deep ball to intercept the pass in the endzone and halt any chance Tennessee had to pull it to a one-possession game. Ringo and the Georgia defense quickly showed the country why they are the best defense by shutting down an elite Tennessee offense that has had no trouble scoring this year. Hooker and his wideout group won’t have any tough tests the rest of the regular season but they do have a good shot at still finding their way into the CFB Playoff, where they can hope to redeem this past week’s performance.
This Week's Matchup to Watch
TCU RB Kendre Miller vs. Texas DT Keondre Coburn
We head to the Big 12 this week as TCU plans to keep their playoff hopes alive on the road vs. Texas. The big question surrounding this game is the health of TCU wide receiver Quentin Johnston. He has quickly risen up draft boards as one of the best receivers in football this year, but he has had a nagging ankle injury the last few weeks and his health for this week is in question. This means that Kendre Miller will be relied on more than usual for TCU to have a chance on the road. Miller stands at 6-foot-0 and 220 pounds and has been as consistent as they come. Through nine games, he has 153 carries for 1,009 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging a robust 6.6 yards per carry. He isn’t much of a pass catcher, but he has all the tools of a power back with game-breaking speed once he reaches the second level. He is currently finding himself as one of the top several running backs in this 2023 NFL draft class.
Although it is not a direct matchup vs Miller, a big piece of eliminating the run for Texas will be Keondre Coburn. In the last several weeks, the Texas run defense has been stout, especially against Kansas State last week they shut down a rushing attack that has had a lot of success this year. Coburn is 6-foot-2 and 343 pounds and is known for clogging the middle of the field against the run, but also has more quickness and agility than you would think for his size, and he has the ability to clamp down on running backs who attempt to bounce outside. He has helped this Texas run defense become a top-five unit in schedule-adjusted rushing success rate. This is even more impressive, seeing as this Texas defense has faced a lot of mobile quarterbacks, which makes the run even harder to defend. Coburn has been rising every week as a pro prospect and is quickly playing his way into the second or third round as a future interior run-stopper in the NFL.
The stakes are high in this one as TCU faces its toughest test of the year, and their CFB Playoff hopes are on the line. Texas is looking to stay in the Big 12 title race and can control its own destiny with a win over TCU. The Horned Frogs will need to be able to run the ball efficiently against this great Texas run defense if they want to continue their perfect season, and Kendre Miller and Keondre Coburn will be at the forefront of that battle on Saturday night.