ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia-Tennessee rivalry may not have the flavor of, say, Georgia-Auburn or Tennessee-Alabama, but it is quickly becoming a heavyweight matchup. In four of the last five games, both teams have been in the top twenty, and Saturday night was in many ways a playoff play-in. At stake: a potential SEC championship berth for Tennessee, a likely playoff berth for Georgia.

In front of a raucous crowd at Sanford Stadium, the Bulldogs struggled early but came together late. They looked less like the faltering team that lost to Ole Miss and more like the menacing powerhouses that could devastate the CFP. Georgia won 31-17, shut down the Vols in the second half and put themselves back in the playoff race. Tennessee, meanwhile, falls into the pool of two-loss SEC teams that will compete for CFP playoff spots.

Both teams are 8-2 overall, but the Bulldogs finish SEC play at 6-2, while UT falls to 5-2 in league play with one game remaining against Vanderbilt.

Georgia punter Brett Thorson – the only Bulldog to come out of the gate strong – inadvertently set the early mood for Georgia in the first half. The Dawgs had gone three-and-out on their opening series, Thorson kicked the ball away and a Tennessee player knocked him to the ground. Flags flew and Thorson lay on his back, gloating, expecting to get a gambler’s shout that would give Georgia another set of downs.

It wasn’t meant to be. The officials picked up the flags and ruled that the Tennessee player was blocked in Thorson. And Tennessee would go on to score a touchdown on the ensuing drive to take a 7-0 lead.

It was a pretty stark message: If Georgia wanted a win over a tough Vols team on Saturday night, the Dawgs would have to earn it.

The status of each team’s starting quarterback dominated the pregame conversation. Would Nico Iamaleava be available after undergoing a reported concussion protocol? Would Carson Beck continue his slide from Heisman Trophy candidacy into interception-hurling irrelevance?

The first half answered both questions quite effectively. Iamaleava got the start and led the Vols on touchdown drives of 78 and 75 yards, with a field goal sandwiched in between. Beck, meanwhile, came out firing and threw 29 passes in the first half. Sure, many of those passes flew high or wide, but that’s better than in enemy hands, right? Beck connected with tight end Oscar Delp – aka Brock Bowers 2.0 – for two touchdowns and drove the Dawgs to a late field goal in the first half.

Halfway home the score was level at 17, with no clear lead for either side.

Georgia struck first in the second half, with a very un-Carson Beck-esque drive from Beck that took 7:22 and went 87 yards in 12 plays. Beck, who has been the target of Georgia fans’ ire in recent weeks, looked as calm and centered as he has all season on drives, finding open men, avoiding the Tennessee rush and guiding Georgia with a confidence he had not shown. within weeks. He took the ball himself into the end zone on the final play of the drive, scoring 10 yards to give Georgia a 24-17 lead.

Tennessee’s offense, so reliable in the first half, sputtered and faltered in the second half, punting on three straight possessions. After a 2-yard touchdown run by Nate Frazier that gave the Bulldogs a 31-17 lead, Tennessee took over with 2:26 left in regulation but turned it around on downs with an Iamaleava fumble. The Vols’ offense was held lifeless for the final 30 minutes.