Dawgs own Vols' turf

When Georgia won at Tennessee in 2001 on a last-minute touchdown it was a fluke. Really, it was.

A rookie head coach working his first SEC road game. A freshman quarterback, David Greene, facing a hostile Neyland Stadium crowd of 107,592 and an unbeaten, sixth-ranked team.

"Gosh, we didn't know what we had,'' Georgia coach Mark Richt recalled this week.

"Being my first year in the league I was pretty ignorant about how difficult it would be to win there.''

In those days it was extremely difficult. In fact, if Steve Spurrier wasn't on your sideline, forget about it.

These days, it's a different story.

Georgia returns to Neyland Stadium on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff (TV: WVLT) that finds Tennessee desperate to defend its home turf.

This will be Richt's fourth visit to Neyland and he's still never lost.

The Vols (2-2, 0-1 SEC) are trying to become a factor in the Eastern Division race. The first step is making Neyland less visitor-friendly to SEC rivals like No. 12 Georgia (4-1, 2-1).

From 1995 - Peyton Manning's sophomore season - through 2001, Tennessee was 41-3 in Neyland.

In SEC play, the Vols were 25-3 at home: two losses to Florida and the '01 surprise by Georgia.

However, visitors no longer fear to tread on Shields-Watkins Field.

From 2002 through this week, the Vols are 25-11 at home. In SEC play, they're 11-9 - or, one game above .500.

"You have to be talented enough to beat whoever you play, regardless of where it's at,'' said UT coach Phillip Fulmer. "The field is the same size, whether you're home or away.''

When Georgia won here in 2003 and 2005, it was no longer a fluke. The Bulldogs are attempting to make it four in a row Saturday.

It would be a rare feat. Ole Miss won four straight in Knoxville from 1960 through 1966. Alabama had a pair of five-game winning streaks here from 1972-80 and again from 1986-94.

"Our players are well aware of it,'' said UT offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe. "That's not a pleasant thing to talk about, but if you don't want to talk about it you've got to try to do something about it.

"That's a big challenge this week, to kind of break that streak.''

Ironically, Tennessee has beaten Georgia on its past two trips to Athens, making this a series in which home field seems a disadvantage.

The Vols need to restore normalcy Saturday.

"I guess it's time for a change,'' said linebacker Rico McCoy.

"A loss is a loss, but most of the time people have family and close friends at home games. It's a loss, but it hurts even more when you're at home.''

And a win feels even better in the other guys' house.

Richt is 23-3 at Georgia on opponents' home fields. That excludes a 1-5 record against Florida in "neutral" Jacksonville.

Some players and coaches say it's easier to get focused on the road. There are no recruits to entertain and fewer family and friends around.

"It's just us and the coaches,'' said Georgia linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. "All we do is meet.''

Richt attributes much of Georgia's road success to the poise of the coaching staff.

"The coaching staff has got to keep everybody in a calm mood,'' he said, "where they understand this game is not over, even though something awful just happened and the crowd is going berserk.''

Georgia quieted the crowd here in 2001 with a desperation five-play touchdown drive after Tennessee had taken the lead with 44 seconds left.

The Bulldogs quieted the crowd again in 2003 when Sean Jones scooped up a UT fumble and returned it 92 yards for a touchdown on the last play of the first half.

In '05, the crowd deflated after Thomas Flowers' 54-yard punt-return TD in the fourth quarter gave Georgia a 20-7 lead.

"It's exciting to go there and play,'' Flowers said this week. "It's hostile, but the atmosphere is great. Tennessee is a wonderful place to play.''

Wonderful if you win all the time.

"It's our stadium,'' UT senior Xavier Mitchell said. "Teams pride themselves on going to somebody else's house and taking a win.

"We can't let that happen this week.''

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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