Rocky Topped: Improbable play breaks Bulldogs fans' hearts

Two improbable plays. One winner.

With one play to go and four seconds on the clock, Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs threw a desperation pass to the end zone. Jauan Jennings, all 6-foot-3 of him, jumped into the air and caught the ball, giving the Volunteers a 34-31 victory at Sanford Stadium.

This play followed a 47-yard touchdown just one play from scrimmage earlier from Georgia quarterback Jacob Eason to receiver Riley Ridley.

Georgia (3-2, 1-2 SEC) has now lost two consecutive games, while Tennessee (5-0, 2-0) has rallied from behind in back-to-back games.

Four who mattered

Dobbs: Dobbs ripped the heart out of Georgia with his desperation pass. He finished the day 16-of-26 passing for 230 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

Georgia running back Sony Michel: Michel carried the load for Georgia, with Nick Chubb missing all but one play of the game. Michel’s day ended with 16 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown.

Georgia defensive back Maurice Smith: Smith came up with two of Georgia’s three turnovers. He forced and recovered a fumble in the first half and came up with an interception in the fourth quarter. Smith also totaled seven tackles.

Tennessee running back Alvin Kamara: In the second half, Tennessee turned to Kamara to handle the bulk of its running duties. Kamara ran for 62 yards and also caught three passes for 26 yards with a touchdown.

Turning point

The final play. What a finish.

Observations

On the final play: It looked like just about every Tennessee receiver was covered on the final play except Jennings. Somehow, Jennings was able to get to the scrum and position himself in front of the Georgia defense as Dobbs’ pass approached. From there, Jennings jumped and made quite possibly the play of the SEC season to date. It’s one for Tennessee lore, and one that will sting Georgia for quite some time.

Georgia’s running game gets going: Having struggled to consistently get the rushing attack moving, the Bulldogs were able to total 181 yards on the ground. The inside runs were there as Georgia’s offensive line was able to get a better push than it had in recent weeks. One area that helped Georgia was running more out of the shotgun, which appeared to allow the backs to see its blocks open up better.

Defense does its job, but Dobbs still makes plays: It’s hard to fault the defense too much, even as Tennessee was able to hit some big plays. The Bulldogs forced three turnovers and did a good job limiting the big play down the field to Tennessee’s big receivers. But even so, Dobbs was able to pick up chunk plays through the air and on the ground. But a lot of those passing yards came courtesy of his two running backs, Kamara and Jalen Hurd.

Worth mentioning

No drops: It didn’t appear Georgia’s receiving targets dropped the ball at all on Saturday. While Georgia ran the ball for most of the game, the receivers came up with each pass as long as there was space between them and the defender.

Nauta breaks out: Eason’s go-to target throughout the game was freshman tight end Isaac Nauta. Nauta caught his first touchdown of the season and grabbed five passes for 83 yards.

Carter records first sack: Georgia outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter picked up his first sack of the season against Tennessee. Carter corralled Dobbs near the end of the second quarter.

They said it

Head coach Kirby Smart on the final play of the game: “That’s something we practice every week — last-play defense. You put your best jumpers in the end zone, and everybody gets up and gets the ball down. We do drills to rep it. Their kid just went up and got it.”

Michel on Smart’s message after the game: “(Smart) told us to stick together as a team, which we are always going to do. We are going to keep fighting and we have some learning to do. We’ll go to practice, practice hard and get prepared for our next opponent.”

Dobbs on the final play: “Nobody on the sidelines said it was over — everyone said we can still get into field goal range, we still have three timeouts to use, we can run hook and (lateral). We lucked out with great field position, great return, and we were able to capitalize on it.”

What’s next?

Georgia travels to South Carolina for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff next week.

This story was originally published October 1, 2016 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Rocky Topped: Improbable play breaks Bulldogs fans' hearts."