ATHENS — Georgia had a nearly flawless showing in its season-opening win over Tennessee State.

But there was one area that Georgia coach Kirby Smart wants to see improvement.

“We got to create some turnovers on defense. We were not able to do that,” Smart said in a radio appearance on 680 The Fan on Wednesday. “We dropped a pick. We got a fumble out, but it was late. The whistle had blown,” Smart said. “If we’re going to be a good football team. We got to turn people over.”

For as well as the Georgia defense played, it did not force a turnover. Georgia held Tennessee State to just 109 total yards of offense and finished with 3.0 sacks.

The Bulldogs didn’t give up their first first down of the game until Tennessee State’s sixth drive of the game. By that point, Georgia was already up 35-0.

Georgia’s pass rush had been another area of concern coming into the season.

The Bulldogs finished the game with 3 sacks, but Smart wasn’t ready to say that issue was totally resolved.

“Hard to evaluate it based on those guys they were going against — no disrespect to them,” Smart said. “But there was not a long time for the quarterback to be able to throw, and the quarterback got it out really quick as well.”

Georgia takes on a Western Kentucky team that got rocked by Nevada to open the season, 49-14.

But the Hilltoppers have seen SEC teams before, having played LSU a season ago. Brian Kelly had been fired by that point in the season, but Western Kentucky played the Tigers to a 13-10 loss.

Smart mentioned earlier this week that he has a healthy amount of respect for Western Kentucky and their coach, Tyson Helton.

“I know Tyson Helton, have a lot of respect for him as a coach and the program, they’ve done a tremendous job with their program over years — a lot of years,” Smart said. “And they’ve got several members from our staff that are working up there and got close connections. Their coaches come down and work our camps in the summer, and they’ve got a lot of Georgia kids on their program.”

The Bulldogs are once again a healthy favorite this week, as they will be expected to win with ease.

Smart pointed out, though, that the Bulldogs aren’t guaranteed to automatically get better this week.

They’ll have to go out and earn it on the field, much like they did a week ago.

“It should be a great opportunity for us to continue to get better,” Smart said. “And we have a saying around here, ‘You don’t have to be sick to get better.’ And that’s been the motto of last weekend this week.”