KNOXVILLE - Referring to the 2019 Georgia Bulldogs as "the comeback kids" may be a stretch at this point of the college football season, though they have trailed in each of their past two games.
Asked Saturday night inside Neyland Stadium what that says about his team, fourth-year coach Kirby Smart replied, "It says we need to start better."
Georgia trailed 14-10 early in the second quarter at Tennessee, but the Bulldogs overwhelmed the Volunteers from that point on, outscoring them 33-0 to polish off the 43-14 triumph. The Bulldogs trailed Notre Dame 10-7 at halftime of their Sept. 21 showdown in Sanford Stadium, but they reeled off the first 16 points of the second half before clinging to a 23-17 win.
The Bulldogs (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) did not face any deficits during their season-opening tramplings of Vanderbilt, Murray State and Arkansas State.
"When you start a game, you're going to see new plays and new scripts," Smart said. "We started pretty well offensively, but we didn't start real well defensively. We started really well defensively last time, but we didn't start well offensively. We just have to put that together.
"Tennessee punched us in the face with a big play, and we responded."
That early punch was a 73-yard touchdown strike from freshman quarterback Brian Mauer to senior receiver Marquez Callaway at the 6:25 mark of the first quarter. Mauer made his first start and threw for 127 first-quarter yards, topping the 117 by Georgia counterpart Jake Fromm, a third-year starter.
Smart said Mauer's impressive beginning was aided by Vols offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, who held the same role for the Bulldogs the past three seasons.
"Jim did a really nice job of putting a plan together for a young quarterback," Smart said. "Jim has a lot of experience dealing with that. He's had young quarterbacks it seems like forever. They had a nice plan to get the ball out of his hands quickly."
Tennessee's second touchdown was a 12-yard pass from Mauer to Jauan Jennings on the first play of the second quarter, but that 10-play, 75-yard possession was aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty on senior defensive end David Marshall.
That was the most costly of Georgia's 11 penalties for 107 yards, with Smart referring to many of them as "stupid and undisciplined."
Yet even when Tennessee (1-4, 0-2) was excelling early against Georgia on the scoreboard, the Bulldogs were owning the clock. Georgia had 10 minutes and 42 seconds of possession time after the first 15 minutes of game play and had 20:12 by halftime.
"I felt like we were wearing them down," Smart said. "I thought our kids played really hard. We didn't start the way we wanted defensively, but offensively, I think Jake and our guys did a really good job. (Offensive coordinator James) Coley called a really nice game and changed things up."
Fromm completed 16 of 20 first-half passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns to stake Georgia to a 26-14 lead at the break, and he finished 24-of-29 for 288 yards.
"Hopefully that's over 80%," Fromm said. "It felt good. I think the offensive line did a great job of holding up in pass protection all night, and guys went out and made plays."
Said Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt: "This is the third time I've coached against Jake Fromm. It's hard to fool him."
Through five games, Fromm has completed 86 of 111 attempts (77.5%) for 1,076 yards with eight touchdowns and no interceptions. Even more impressive, Fromm is now 14-0 against fellow SEC East programs, with South Carolina (2-3, 1-2) and Kentucky (2-3, 0-3) visiting Athens the next two weekends.
"This was our first road game," Smart said. "A lot of people will think of Vanderbilt, but that wasn't this kind of atmosphere. When you're resilient on the road and play hard and keep coming back and play a lot of players and you're able to rush for 238 yards and they rush for 70, it helps you.
"We've got a big, physical football team, and we've got to keep getting better."
Odds and ends
The Bulldogs remained No. 3 in the national rankings but are now tied with Ohio State in The Associated Press poll. Georgia opened Sunday as a 24-point favorite over South Carolina. Smart said sophomore nose tackle Jordan Davis sprained his ankle in the first minute of Saturday's game. Smart on Azeez Ojulari tallying two sacks: "To do that as a redshirt freshman is pretty special."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.