Saturday night's college football matchup between No. 3 Georgia and Tennessee inside Neyland Stadium could easily be named the "Familiarity Bowl."
"I've coached there, and I've coached against them several times," second-year Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt said last week.
Georgia counterpart Kirby Smart has never coached at Tennessee, but he has faced the Volunteers annually since 2007.
Pruitt and Smart arrived at their first head-coaching locales via the same route - as respected Alabama defensive coordinators under Nick Saban. Smart led Alabama's defense from 2008 to '15, with Pruitt serving as the secondary coach in the national championship seasons of 2011 and '12, and Pruitt became Saban's coordinator for the 2016 and '17 seasons.
Half of Tennessee's 10 full-time assistants worked at Georgia earlier this decade: offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, offensive line coach Will Friend, defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer and tight ends coach Brian Niedermeyer. Chaney and Sherrer came to Knoxville straight from Athens, while Niedermeyer was never a full-time assistant at Georgia but was a graduate assistant in 2015.
Chaney is certain to be discussed in abundance this week, having left Georgia in January after three years as coordinator for the same role with the Vols and an enhanced salary of $1.5 million annually. His final offense with the Bulldogs averaged 464.9 yards and 37.9 points per game, but this year's Tennessee attack has yet to develop consistency.
The Vols (1-3, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) amassed 404 yards in their opening setback against Georgia State and 418 in their double-overtime loss to Brigham Young, but they were held to just 256 in the 34-3 loss at Florida that preceded their recent open date.
"It's very similar," Florida coach Dan Mullen said last week. "Jim is a great coach, and he's going to try to utilize his strengths. He's playing with very different players, but I know he's going to try and put those guys in a position to be successful."
Georgia (4-0, 1-0) has only two full-time assistants who previously coached at Tennessee. Offensive line coach Sam Pittman had the same role with the Vols in 2012 under Derek Dooley, when Chaney was in his first stint as that program's offensive coordinator, as did defensive backs coach Charlton Warren in 2017 under Butch Jones.
Decided favorites
The Bulldogs opened Sunday afternoon as 22-point favorites for this week's showdown, which will break the all-time series deadlock that currently sits at 23-23-2. Georgia was a 32.5-point favorite last season in Athens and won 38-12.
Saturday's 7 p.m. game will be televised by ESPN.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.