Georgia football players, like many across the country, are given 24 hours by their coaches to either celebrate or sulk over a Saturday result.
That window of time expired Sunday afternoon, because the Bulldogs must quickly pick up the pieces from their 45-14 loss at Ole Miss. Next up for Georgia is a visit from Tennessee, which is sky high after rallying from a 21-0 deficit to deck Florida 38-28 early Saturday evening at a frenzied Neyland Stadium.
"It's a big game, and we're going to have a big atmosphere, but we've got to stay focused and really study," Bulldogs junior safety Dominick Sanders said. "We're going up against another really good quarterback and another really good offense. As a defense, we can't give up the explosive plays again next week."
Georgia plummeted from No. 12 to No. 25 in the Associated Press poll released Sunday, while Tennessee jumped from No. 14 to No. 11.
The Bulldogs were torched Saturday by Ole Miss senior quarterback Chad Kelly, who completed 18 of 24 passes for 282 yards and had a 41-yard touchdown run. Kelly guided a Rebels offense that racked up 323 yards and averaged 10.1 yards a play in the first half alone, with that output helping result in a 31-0 advantage.
Last October, the Bulldogs suffered a similar torching at the expense of Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs, who threw for 312 yards and rushed for 118 as the Volunteers rallied from a 24-3 deficit to a 38-31 victory. Tennessee compiled 519 yards against Georgia last season, while Ole Miss had 510 Saturday, including 501 through the first three quarters.
Facing the veteran Vols is challenging enough, but first-year Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart has the added task of keeping his team upbeat following a thorough dismantling in which Georgia fell behind 45-0. Smart expressed his belief for better days ahead immediately after the game.
"I've seen them do it," Smart said. "I've seen Jayson Stanley make that catch. I've seen Isaiah McKenzie make that catch. I've seen Malkom Parrish make those plays, because he made one against a 6-5 guy against North Carolina. I've seen them do it, but we've just got to do it when we need to do it.
"We've got to do a better job as coaches to help them. At the end of the day, when things snowballed, we didn't have anybody step up and make a play. Lorenzo Carter, go make a tackle for a loss right there. If Malkom makes a play on the perimeter it might change the game, but we didn't do that."
Georgia had won five consecutive games against Tennessee before last season's thriller, but the Bulldogs opened Sunday as four-point underdogs. Tennessee would be the first road favorite in Sanford Stadium since South Carolina in 2011, with Alabama having served as an underdog last year in Athens for the first time in 73 games.
"Every game is a big game, but now Tennessee is coming up," junior receiver Isaiah McKenzie said. "That's a really big game we've got to play, so we've got to go through the film of this one and see what we did good and see what we did bad. We've got to prepare better this week."
Said junior tailback Sony Michel: "We've got the 24-hour rule, and then we're going to forget about this game. We will correct things and move forward."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.