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| AP PHOTO Georgia feels it has a score to settle on Saturday against Tennessee. Georgia coach Jim Donnan accused Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer of running up the score in last year's 38-13 Volunteer victory.
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The Bulldogs have a chance to get even Saturday.
No. 4 Tennessee (4-0) visits seventh-ranked Georgia (4-0) for a game that will have major ramifications in the Southeastern Conference race and possibly the road to the national championship.
The first top 10 showdown at Sanford Stadium since 1983 is enticing enough, but the stakes are even higher because of the bad blood that clearly exists between Donnan and his counterpart at Tennessee, Phillip Fulmer.
It all goes back to last year's meeting in Knoxville, won 38-13 by the Volunteers. Donnan was visibly upset, shouting in Fulmer's direction, when Heisman Trophy candidate Peyton Manning remained in the game with the outcome already decided. Manning wound up throwing four passes in the final five minutes, including a touchdown.
Yesterday, Donnan made a thoroughly unconvincing effort to downplay his feud with Fulmer.
"I don't have any disagreement with him," Donnan insisted. "He's got to coach his team, I've got to coach mine. That happened and it's over with and we're playing this year. That's all I have to say about that."
But Donnan has refused to apologize for accusing Fulmer of running up the score when the coaches met on the field after last year's game.
"I don't regret what I said," Donnan said during a conference call Sunday. "What I regret is the fact that he made it public after I whispered it in his ear."
Fulmer has defended his actions, saying Manning would not have thrown if Georgia had not blitzed.
"I don't think that has any place in this ballgame,'' Fulmer said Tuesday. ''He's not going to play a down and neither am I.''
The Georgia players, already smarting from seven straight losses to the Volunteers, have enough motivation without concerning themselves with whether Tennessee tried to run up the score last season.
"The coaches do their thing, we do our thing," Georgia defensive tackle Paul Snellings said. "All we can do is what our coach tells us to do. We're not going to stick our noses into their little feud. That's between them."
Teammate Kirby Smart agreed.
"I understand the situation," the safety said. "I understand coach Donnan's perspective on it. I understand coach Fulmer's perspective on it. I understand Peyton's perspective on it. Peyton was trying to win the Heisman Trophy.
"I just worry about how I play. The way I played last year was terrible. I don't worry about all that other stuff. What goes on between the coaching staffs, that's the coaches' job to worry about. Not ours."
Georgia hasn't beaten the Volunteers since 1988, and the 25-point margin a year ago was Tennessee's largest since a 38-6 victory in 1993.
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