Week 1 Preview: “White cup, Orange Pop, Tennessee State ish”

by Chito Chibuye

Dawgs OTL Writer/ UGA Alumnus

UGA will begin its hunt for greatness in the 2026 season in Athens against the Tennessee State Tigers. Reports sound like it’s going to be a hot one, and the Dawgs will look to get off to a hot start in its season opener against the Tigers from the Ohio Valley Conference.

Tennessee State University: History, Location and Background

Located in West Nashville, TSU is a public historically black land-grant University that was founded in 1912. It is the only* state funded HBCU in Tennessee with notable alumni such as Oprah Winfrey and Robert Covington (former NBA player). On Saturday Sept. 5th they will wrestle with the No. 3 team in the country the Georgia Bulldogs.

An aerial view of TSU’s campus in Nashville courtesy of TSU

Tennessee State Head Coach Reggie Barlow

They’re led by 2nd year coach Reggie Barlow, 4- time conference coach of the year honoree, and SuperBowl XXXVII Champ with the Tampa Bay Bucs (as a WR) back in 2002 with the likes of John Gruden, Warren Sapp, Mike Alstott, Ronde Barber, and Keyshawn Johnson.

Here you see coach Reggie Barlow number 84 on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002 & 2003.

Tennessee State’s Week Zero Game Against Jackson State

This will not be their first game of 2026 however, as they lost a close opener 26-24 to Jackson State in week zero. It wasn’t an impressive showing by TSU by any means, but they do have a leg up on correcting the mistakes they made (a lot of mistakes) in their first week, whereas UGA hasn’t had the same opportunity. Unfortunately for TSU, that probably won’t amount to much.

Tennessee State Players to Watch

QB: Daylin Lee

Dayton Lee had 1 passing TD and 1 rushing TD  with 265 yds passing and 40 yds rushing on 13 attempts. The dual-threat QB will be the focal point for the UGA defense.

WR: Jayden Guy

This dude is a speedster that reportedly runs a 10.3 100m which is lights out. He was explosive for TSU catching 9 for 148 yds

RB: Brenton Paul

(Brenton Paul (True Freshman) had a rushing TD on the day.

TSU only managed 91 rush yds in their total 354 yds against Jackson St. which doesn’t bode well for them, so expect the secondary to get a lot of work.

Goals for Georgia Against Tennessee State

UGA should use the first 2 weeks to get in football shape. The heat index may break records, so they’ll have to lock in mentally and limit mistakes. I expect the 2’s and 3’s to get a lot of work and of course being healthy is always the goal. UGA should win big Saturday but Kirby will keep the focus on the season long goals. The fans will get to enjoy a long Labor Day weekend with some matchups that you can’t miss, while the Dawgs take the words from an old Drake song and focus on “White cup, Orange Pop, Tennessee State sh*t.” We get to “Drop a 4 in it and appreciate the GREATNESS.”

Georgia vs. Tennessee State Prediction

Prediction: Dawgs win 57-6

Go DAWGS!