Kirby Smart on how Tennessee win helped to prepare Georgia

Georgia’s defense might have just faced off against its toughest test of the season so far against Tennessee. Tennessee’s offense has been explosive throughout the season, posing a unique challenge that the Bulldogs hadn’t yet seen. But Saturday’s 41-17 Georgia victory showed that the Bulldogs were up for the challenge.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart talked about the effort after the win, praising the team and staff’s preparation. Smart also noted that this game was a unique challenge, something that could prove valuable to Georgia as the postseason nears.

“Yeah I mean I think the better teams you play the better you get,” Smart said to reporters after the win. “Every week is a different test and this was a very distinctly different test. Teams will see what they did and they’ll replicate some of that. But I’m proud of the way we prepared for it. We got a defensive staff that burned the midnight oil to prepare.”

Smart: Tennessee was ‘not an easy prep’

While Tennessee’s offense has been dynamic, it wasn’t enough to beat Georgia’s historically dominant defense. Tennessee got out to a 7-0 lead early on and led 10-7 after the first quarter, but Georgia dominated the game from there.

Down by a wide margin late in the game, every drive turned into four down territory for the Vols. Giving an explosive offense four downs to get a first down could be dangerous, but Georgia didn’t have any issues.

“This is not an easy prep,” Smart said. “You look at the teams that they’ve played, they don’t have many low scoring totals. To give up the first drive and then come back and really do a good job the rest of the second half, and remember guys they had four downs the entire second half. When you have four downs, it’s different because you’re not worried about third down. Third down, second down, and then you got fourth to go for it because you need touchdowns. So yeah, I’m proud of the way our guys played defensively.”

Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker threw for 244 yards, one touchdown, and one interception against Georgia. Joe Milton also entered the game and threw for 88 yards and a touchdown. As a team, Tennessee rushed for 55 yards on 36 carries, averaging just 1.5 yards per carry.

Georgia is now a perfect 10-0 on the season, including an 8-0 mark against SEC opponents. Tennessee drops to 5-5 overall and 3-4 against the SEC.