Time and time again, Ainge broke the spirit of the Georgia defense with his remarkably accurate passes.

"We knew we were going to win this football game," Ainge said. "There wasn't any doubt on anybody on our team."

One drive in particular impressed me the most. It was at the end of the first half with the Vols trailing 24-7. He took four minutes off the clock and went 65 yards in 11 plays on a touchdown drive that culminated in Arian Foster's one-yard touchdown run.

With about 11 minutes remaining in the game, Tennessee held a 38-33 lead. It was 3rd down and 8. Ainge danced away from pressure and threw for a first down. That drive ended with another touchdown.

Ainge's favorite target is WR Robert Meachem. In the first half, the Bulldogs limited him to just two catches. So all Ainge did was spread the ball around to everyone else. In fact, I give a lot of credit to the Tennessee offensive coaching staff for calling numerous screen passes. The Georgia secondary was not allowing anything downfield, so Ainge threw short passes, picked up small chunks of yards at a time, and confidently marched his team to victory.

Another thing Ainge did well was take advantage of Georgia QB Joe Tereshinski's mistakes. On the first play of the second half, Tereshinski threw an interception. A few plays later, the Vols scored a touchdown and cut the lead to three points. Later in the quarter, Tereshinski was intercepted again, and Ainge hit Meachem for a touchdown that put Tennessee up 31-27. They never looked back.

Ainge did a wonderful job of taking what the defense gave him. He kept Tennessee in the game during the first half, and completely dominated in the second.

The Georgia secondary was a different story. I couldn't believe how good they were in the first half of the game. As mentioned, the Bulldogs allowed almost nothing to get behind them. They forced Ainge to throw underneath the coverage and rely on screen passes. The downfield passing game was practically nonexistent.

But in the second half, they looked fatigued. Personally, I credit the Tennessee offensive line for this. Ainge, who raved about the offensive line after the game, had almost no pressure on him all game, and that led to longer plays which eventually took a serious toll on the Bulldogs defensive backfield. All of a sudden, more and more passes were being completed for more and more yards. Ainge threw for 100 yards in the first half, and 168 yards in the second half. Meachem had two first half catches, but finished with 7 catches, 98 yards, and a touchdown.

In the first half, I was so impressed with the way the secondary tackled. They looked as good as any unit in the nation. By the end of the game they couldn't bring down defenders nearly as well as they did early on. The secondary, which was Georgia's stength in the first half, became it's Achilles heal by the end of the game. It wasn't just the numbers. It was the big completions they allowed at critical times that kept drives going.

The solution was more blitzing from Georgia. Had they not given Ainge so much time, it might have been a different story. I felt like Georgia sat back and rushed four men too often.

Finally, I wanted to dedicate some ink to Jarvis Jackson. Georgia's middle linebacker might get more publicity had the Bulldogs won, but win or lose, this guy is fun to watch. He is making plays all over the field and leading the defense. He, like the Georgia secondary, had a much stronger first half than second half. Eventually the Georgia defense looked demoralized and was probably on the field too long. But Jackson entertained. He hit hard, blitzed quickly, and even did a nice job in pass coverage when he had to.

Georgia needed to put more pressure on the quarterback. Had they done that, they might have stayed undefeated. But the Tennessee offensive line allowed Erik Ainge to pick the BUlldogs apart slowly. Ainge was the big story tonight. I had no idea how good this guy is.

One more note: Before the blocked punt which Tennessee recovered for a touchdown, making the score 38-27 Vols, there was a controversial no-call. Georgia fans wanted pass interference, which would have kept the drive alive and kept the Bulldogs from punting. However, the ball was ruled uncatchable. It was a good no-call by the officials. Hopefully people don't think this game is tainted because of that ruling.