College Football 2017: Ranking the 3 worst losses from Week 5

In recent years, Tennessee and Georgia had played tight contests in their annual SEC East battle. The last half-dozen editions had all ended by a single score, and the Volunteers had the chance to get right back in the division race by taking down the undefeated Bulldogs. Nothing indicated that the contest would become a complete blowout.

Then the opening kickoff flew through the air at Neyland Stadium, and Tennessee laid an egg against its rival. On the first play of the game, Quinten Dormady threw an interception that set the tone for the rest of the day. Georgia turned the takeaway into a field goal. Even then, it took some time for the Bulldogs to really get heated up.

By halftime, though, Georgia was up 24-0 and the blowout was on. The Bulldogs forced four Tennessee turnovers and held their rivals under 150 total yards of offense. Even then, Georgia turned those turnovers into just 10 points. Tennessee’s defense played well enough, holding Jake Fromm under 50 percent passing the ball. Fromm managed just 84 yards in the air.

The end result, though, was a historic mismatch. It was Tennessee’s worst defeat at home in more than a century. The last time the Volunteers lost this badly at home, World War I was still ongoing and a ramshackle assortment of non-varsity players fell 68-0 to Sewanee. The worst official loss for Tennessee came 13 years before that, when Vanderbilt down the Vols 45-0 in 1905. It was an utter embarrassment that could have Butch Jones on his way out of Knoxville sooner than later.