THE FIVE BIGGEST SURPRISES OF 2007: #4 - THE DAWG-WHOOPIN'

Going into Red October, things were a bit ugly on Rocky Top. The Vols were 2-2, and Mark Richt, who had never lost at Neyland Stadium, was bringing his Bulldogs to town, seeking revenge for an embarrassing blowout loss to Tennessee in Athens in 2006. Tennessee's defense was struggling, the offense had not yet proven it could run the ball consistently, and the team was showing a nasty habit of giving up special teams touchdowns.

Despite all of this, Corn from a Jar predicted that Georgia would get zero punt return yards, that LaMarcus Coker would gain over 150 total yards, and that Jonathan Hefney would play like his 2006 version.

Well, turns out CfaJ was mostly right. The Vols rolled out a funky new punt formation and held Georgia to two returns for a total of 11 yards, Arian Foster (not Coker) averaged nearly six yards per carry and scored three touchdowns, and the weaknesses in the secondary went unexploited. Oh, and the Vols won, nay, dominated the Dawgs. The score was only 35-14, but the game was never even close. On seven first half possessions for Georgia, they punted seven times. In that same span of time, Tennessee scored four touchdowns. It was an absolute Dawg-Whoopin' of the first order.

See also:

• No. 5: Lucas Taylor