KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Kirby Smart didn’t pull any punches after seeing how Tennessee’s offense took apart the Georgia defense.

“Yeah they grew up, I mean, look, the defense for two weeks has heard about how good they are and they got punched in the face,” Smart said after the No. 6-ranked Bulldogs pulled out a 44-41 overtime win over the No. 15-ranked Vols.

“In the past, we’ve played them well, we didn’t give up big plays. Today we didn’t do that.”

Indeed, it was the first time in four year a Tennessee quarterback had thrown a touchdown and passed for more than 200 yards — and Joey Aguilar had accomplished that by the end of the first quarter, completing his first 14 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns as the Vols charged to a 21-7 lead.

Tennessee complied 496 yards (Georgia had 502), and Aguilar finished with 371 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.

“Just all in all a great game, but I feel almost like we have to apologize to them,” said Smart, now 19-1 against Tennessee in SEC coaching gear as Alabama’s defensive coordinator (9-0) and Georgia’s head coach (9-1) and as a UGA assistant (1-0).

“I don’t think we should have won that game. They outplayed us in a lot of ways, but that’s the way it goes. I mean, I’ve had one against them about nine or ten years ago that certainly went that way.”

Smart doesn’t forget defeats — during the week he reminded anyone who asked about his playing career at Georgia that he failed beat Tennessee as a player, and it’s fair to say the Bulldogs’ head coach will never forget losing to the Butch Jones-coached Vols in 2016 by a 34-31 count on a last-second, Hail Mary pass.

But Smart also knows where and how to give credit to his players where it is due, and first-year starting quarterback Gunner Stockton was certainly deserving of that after his clutch plays.

It was Stockton’s fourth-down, 28-yard touch-touchdown pass to London Humphreys and zip-throw, 2-point conversion pass to Zachariah Branch that tied the game at 38-38 with 2:32 left that put Georgia in position to send the game to overtime.

The defense did just enough to keep Tennessee from an easy game-winning field goal in the final seconds — Max Gilbert missed a 43-yarder — but without Stockton’s poised effort it would have been moot.

“I thought they were defending the sticks and we were trying to get a touchdown, and sometimes you get an advantage when people play the sticks and you’re willing to take a shot,” Smart said of Mike Bobo’s fourth-down play call.

“There was no guarantee that we were going to get the two. So I was on the headphones the entire time saying, ‘Hey, we need to score quickly because we may have to get the ball back.’ We can’t assume it’s a tie. The two-point conversion was the play of the game because that actually gave us a chance.”

As for the defense, Smart remains confident in those players even after they absorbed some big plays from the Tennessee offense.

The Vols had nine plays of 15 yards or more, most notably, 72- and 56-yard touchdown passes to 6-foot-5 receiver Chris Brazzell ll.

“That defense group in there, they didn’t lose their confidence….,” Smart said. “They think they can stop anybody, anytime. That’s a fun group to be around. They do it in overtime. They thought they were going to block a field goal.

“They believe, and they’re a confident group. Now, we’ve got to play smarter.”

Smart said there will be more blows exchanged as the season progresses in what is already proving to be a deep, talented SEC this season.

“It doesn’t get any easier from here, look, our league, I don’t know what’s going on with college football today, this league is tough,” Smart said. “Every Saturday, I think games are going to be like that. I told our team I would not be shocked at all if it’s a fourth-quarter game that comes down to one possession, which it did.”