Tennessee no stranger to Georgia's Kirby Smart

Georgia first-year head football coach Kirby Smart, shown Monday at his weekly news conference, is preparing for Tennessee for a 10th consecutive season. Smart was a defensive assistant at Alabama the past nine years.
Georgia first-year head football coach Kirby Smart, shown Monday at his weekly news conference, is preparing for Tennessee for a 10th consecutive season. Smart was a defensive assistant at Alabama the past nine years.

ATHENS, Ga. - As someone who traded in a crimson and white wardrobe for red and black during the offseason, Kirby Smart sure knows his orange.

Georgia's first-year head football coach is cramming for Saturday's showdown between his No. 25 Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) and No. 11 Tennessee (4-0, 1-0) in Sanford Stadium. Studying the Volunteers is nothing new for Smart, who prepared for them the past nine seasons as an Alabama defensive assistant, including the last eight as coordinator.

SEC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OFFENSE: Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs, who passed for 319 yards, rushed for 80 and accounted for five total touchdowns in the 38-28 comeback win over Florida. DEFENSE: Texas A&M defensive back Armani Watts, who had nine tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and recovered a fumble he forced during the 45-24 defeat of Arkansas. SPECIAL TEAMS: Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson, who tied a school and conference record with six field goals in the 18-13 win over LSU. His longest was 51 yards. FRESHMAN: Texas A&M tailback Trayveon Williams, who rushed 12 times for 153 yards (12.8 yards per carry) and two scores against Arkansas. He also had three catches. OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: Ole Miss guard Jordan Sims, who led a Rebels line that allowed one sack as part of an offense that racked up 510 yards and was 4-for-4 in the red zone. DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: Tennessee defensive end Derek Barnett, who had five tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks to help hold Florida to 102 second-half yards. DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: Kentucky defensive end Denzil Ware, who had five tackles and two sacks in a 17-10 win against South Carolina, which went 3-of-13 on third-down tries. - David Paschall

"They were probably the most physical team we played last year as far as just coming right off the ball and hitting you in the mouth," Smart said Monday. "We've got a great challenge in front of us. This is a good football team, and we've got to show improvement at pretty much every position."

The Crimson Tide went 9-0 against Tennessee with Smart on Nick Saban's staff, including four consecutive wins by 31 or more points from 2010 to 2013. Alabama's 45-10 rout in 2013 occurred when Butch Jones was in his first season as Vols coach, but the Crimson Tide won just 34-20 two years ago in Knoxville and survived 19-14 last year in Tuscaloosa.

Tennessee employed three head coaches - Phillip Fulmer, Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley - during Smart's first three seasons as Alabama's defensive coordinator, and he did not hesitate Monday when asked where the Vols have made the most strides under Jones.

"The offensive and defensive lines, and that's easy to say," Smart said. "They've always been able to get wideouts and get skill players, but he's built the program around the offensive and defensive lines. They've got a core group of offensive linemen that have I don't know how many starts, and I swear they have like 13 returning starters on offense because they've got guys at multiple positions who have started depending on what personnel grouping they're in.

"I remember two years ago going and playing this team in Knoxville, and they were physical then. They were really physical last year, and they're that way this year, but he's built it around the offensive and defensive lines, which I think is the best way to build a program. Their defensive line is a lot bigger than it's ever been."

When Georgia's veteran players were beginning their careers with the Bulldogs, the Vols were among the worst teams in the league. Tennessee suffered three consecutive 5-7 seasons from 2011 to 2013, which included an abysmal 4-20 league mark.

The Bulldogs had a five-game winning streak over the Vols snapped last year with a 38-31 loss in Knoxville, and they are underdogs entering this week's game.

"They're picking it up every year," Bulldogs redshirt junior safety Aaron Davis said. "I remember in high school watching them, and they - they're improving every year and their recruiting is getting better. They're really bringing it together, and I can definitely see the growth they've had. They're a phenomenal team."

Said senior center Brandon Kublanow: "Coach Jones up there has done a great job with their program."

Georgia is hoping to avoid Tennessee starting a winning streak of its own in this series, which Smart experienced as a Bulldogs player during the 1990s. The Vols lead the overall series, 22-21-2, with much of that due to Tennessee's nine straight wins from 1989 to 1999.

"They were very dominant," Smart said. "Peyton (Manning) and Tee Martin were both really good quarterbacks on really good offenses that were very power-based. This is a great rivalry, and it's what college football is all about. It's a pretty balanced rivalry that has kind of gone in cycles, and I have a lot of respect for their program."

Chubb update

Georgia junior tailback Nick Chubb is questionable for Saturday's game with the ankle injury that sidelined him for the second half of Saturday's 45-14 loss at Ole Miss. Chubb rushed 12 times for 57 yards in the first half against the Rebels and ranks fifth in the SEC with an average of 105.5 rushing yards per game.

"He's going to continue to rehab really hard," Smart said. "We're obviously hopeful that he'll be able to do something, but we won't know more until later in the week."

Chubb was not spotted at the portion of Monday's practice that was open to the media.

Odds and ends

Georgia's game next week at South Carolina will be televised by the SEC Network with a 7:30 p.m. start. Kublanow on last year's block on Shy Tuttle that resulted in a broken leg for Tennessee's defensive lineman: "I'm not going to speak about it. I'm moving on to the 2016 game." This will be the 14th Tennessee-Georgia game with both teams ranked but the first since 2006. Smart said sophomore defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter, who had two alcohol-related arrests earlier this year, will be suspended for a fifth consecutive game.

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

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