Those expecting Tennessee and Josh Heupel’s hurry-up offense to give Kirby Smart’s Dawgs a serious, competitive game Saturday were absolutely right … for about 20 minutes.

After that, it was business as usual for the Georgia Bulldogs, who dominated the final three quarters to administer an impressive 41-17 shellacking to the Vols in front of a crowd of 100,074 fans at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville and a national CBS television audience.

The Vols did get off to the sort of fast start many had anticipated, racing down the field for their first score with an alarming ease that prompted a few adjustments by the Georgia defense (with Christopher Smith shifting to nickel back, while Dan Jackson came in at Smith’s safety spot).

But, as Smart had told the Bulldogs radio network’s DJ Shockley before the game, the key was “to be calm in the chaos” and “to be who we are.”

And, who the 2021 Dawgs are, is a team that tends to assert itself in the second quarter and then cruise from that point on, substituting liberally from its talent-packed roster to keep fresh bodies in throughout the game.

Quarterback Stetson Bennett runs for a touchdown in the first half of Saturday’s game in Knoxville. (Hyosub Shin/AJC) (HYOSUB SHIN / AJC/Dawgnation)

Of the 41 plays for 184 yards that the Vols ran in the first half, 159 yards were gained in the first quarter, while UT managed only 25 yards in the second quarter. And, after taking a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter, the Volunteers saw Georgia score 34 unanswered points before giving up a garbage-time score late in the game.

The Dawgs outgained the Vols in offensive yards 487-387 overall, and outrushed them, 274-55. UT’s only edge came in passing yardage, where they had 332 yards to Georgia’s 213 (with Vols receiver Cedric Tillman catching 10 passes for 200 yards and 1 TD).

Of course, it’s true that Tennessee did score more points against the vaunted Georgia defense than any other team so far this season, but they only managed 4 points more than did the South Carolina and Kentucky offenses, and they fell far short of the 38.2 points per game they were averaging before this game.

(It’s also worth noting that the Dawgs, who topped their own scoring average of 38.4 points per game, won by more than the 20 points by which oddsmakers had them favored.)

Once again, a team touted by national college football pundits as one of the hottest in the country, bound to test “untested” Georgia, fell short when it faced this year’s Dawgs. It has become something of a meme.

Tennessee may have looked the part to start with, but, after the first quarter, the Georgia defense impressively slowed Heupel’s hurry-up roll, despite being shorthanded and weakened by a stomach flu outbreak that sidelined a couple of starters — and prompted a wise James Cook to don a mask on the sideline once his day was done.

James Cook celebrates with teammates after a touchdown in Georgia’s big win over Tennessee. (Tony Walsh/UGA) (Tony Walsh/Dawgnation)

Speaking of Cook, what a stupendous day he had, both running and receiving. A career day, you could say, with the senior tailback running for 104 yards on 10 carries, and accounting for three of the Bulldogs’ four touchdowns — two on runs and one on a 23-yard pass from quarterback Stetson Bennett.

My brother Tim has taken to texting “Cookie!” whenever Cook has a big play, which was frequent enough Saturday to bring to mind that earworm pest control jingle that is ubiquitous on UGA radio broadcasts: “Lookie, lookie, lookie, here comes Cookie …”

On his touchdown reception, Cook ran past a defender to get wide open, and Bennett hit him over the shoulder in the back corner of the end zone with a perfectly thrown pass.

Bennett wasn’t always on target Saturday, overthrowing a couple of other open receivers and badly misplacing a ball to tight end Brock Bowers that probably would have produced a TD if the freshman sensation hadn’t had to twist out of bounds to catch it. Bennett also unwisely threw a pass into double coverage in the end zone on another drive.

On the other hand, Bennett, who made 17 of 29 passes for 213 yards and 1 TD, completed passes to nine different receivers again Saturday, with freshman A.D. Mitchell leading the team, with a career-high five catches for 65 yards, four of them on one scoring drive.

Vols running back Jabari Small gets tackled from behind by Georgia defender Nakobe Dean (17) during Saturday’s game at Neyland Stadium. (Hyosub Shin/AJC) (HYOSUB SHIN / AJC/Dawgnation)

And, Georgia’s former walk-on QB continued to keep drives alive with his legs, running for 40 yards on 8 tries, and only getting sacked twice. The 9-yard touchdown run Bennett had in the second quarter had him starting to roll out, changing his mind, and then threading his way through the Tennessee defense to score. Frankly, I couldn’t have imagined JT Daniels even attempting that play.

Smart praised Bennett’s touchdown run as “an elite play” and liked what the quarterback did with his legs, but the head coach did add, “he’s got to make better decisions in the pocket.”

Speaking of Daniels, there was the usual fan second-guessing after the game of why the former starter, now fully recovered from injury, didn’t get into the game in the second half, after Georgia had things under control, as happened the week before against Missouri. However, there really wasn’t a real need of Daniels’ passing prowess, since the Dawgs were determined to keep the ball mostly on the ground in the second half, attempting only 8 passes over the final two quarters.

As Smart told reporters in his post-game Zoom conference call, “I’m not going to overthink it with Stetson. We’re trying to go game by game to get him better, and I’m so proud for what he’s been through. For a young man who was [No.] 3 coming out of spring, 3 going into fall camp, 3 coming out of fall camp — what does that say about his character, that he stuck around and he kept working to get better? That’s what you’re supposed to do in life — overcome hurdles and obstacles.”

As for whether Bennett is capable of leading Georgia to a national championship, Smart demurred: “I mean, we’re worried about Charleston Southern right now.”

Defensive back Derion Kendrick runs with the ball after making an interception in Saturday’s game. (Hyosub Shin/AJC) (HYOSUB SHIN / AJC/Dawgnation)

If there was anything to fret about coming out of this game, it was the inconsistency of the offensive line, which on some drives had difficulty blocking inside for either the pass or the run. At other times, however, they did a great job of protecting Bennett, and they opened a gigantic hole for Cook on his 39-yard TD run that answered the Vols’ opening score.

Also, as Georgia great Kevin Butler complained on the post-game call-in show, offensive coordinator Todd Monken again took his foot off the pedal a bit in the second half, and, on special teams, the Dawgs didn’t do a great job of covering punts.

As for the defense, with the exception of a couple of long passes of about 50 yards each that were given up, and a couple of missed tackles, the Dawgs defenders were their usual masterful selves. Nakobe Dean led the team with 11 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and a sack, and Channing Tindall had 8 tackles and 3 sacks (2 on the same drive!), both career highs. Overall, the Dawgs racked up 6 sacks and 9 tackles for loss on the day, and scored 14 points as a result of turnovers.

Georgia’s opponents have scored just 76 points so far this season, and that 10-game tally is the lowest since 1950, when the Bulldogs allowed 58.

I liked the way CBS analyst Rick Neuheisel summed up the Georgia defense: “They all run fast, and they get there in a bad mood.”

Head coach Kirby Smart shouts instructions during the first half of the Tennessee game. (Hyosub Shin/AJC) (HYOSUB SHIN / AJC/Dawgnation)

Overall, it’s tough to pick a favorite play of the day, what with that beautiful TD reception by Cook, and his long TD run, but, for old-school Dawgs fans, a particular highlight was the fourth-quarter touchdown scored by Cook on a toss sweep out of the I-formation with fellow tailback Zamir White leading the way as a blocking fullback. It took me back …

The number of Dawgs needing medical attention during the hard-hitting game was a bit disturbing, especially Devonte Wyatt, who needed tending to on three different occasions. You have to wonder why Wyatt and other defensive starters still were in the game on that late, meaningless scoring drive by the Vols. Maybe the flu bug had something to with it, but, really, is trying to protect a nation-topping points-scored-against stat — when the game already is won — worth the risk of getting key defenders hurt this late in the season?

Still, those are relatively minor quibbles at this point. The big picture is that the Dawgs are 10-0, finished conference play undefeated, easily won another “no, this time they definitely will be tested” game with a fifth consecutive whipping of the Vols Saturday, and easily beat their four biggest rivals — Clemson, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee — all in the same season (for the first time since 1980), and by an aggregate score of 119 to 37!

Let’s not be so focused on what lies ahead for the Dawgs that we don’t take a moment to enjoy just how special this season already has been.