KNOXVILLE - Georgia's offense amassed 487 yards and played turnover-free football during Saturday's 41-17 defeat of Tennessee inside Neyland Stadium.
In other words, the Volunteers got Cooked.
Senior running back James Cook had 14 touches that produced 147 yards and three touchdowns in the runaway, with his 104 rushing yards matching a career high. Cook's rushing output transpired on only 10 carries, and he added four catches for 43 yards.
"You talk about a guy who wills himself to win," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. "This guy wants to win bad and doesn't care what it takes. He'll do anything you ask. He ran out and played on a punt team that he hadn't played on in a couple of weeks.
"The guy makes plays, and he's getting better as the season progresses."
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound younger brother of Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook capped Georgia's opening drive with a 39-yard touchdown run that pulled the Bulldogs into a 7-7 tie. His 23-yard touchdown reception with 37 seconds left before halftime extended Georgia's lead to 24-10, and his 5-yard scoring run with 13:14 remaining made it 34-10.
Cook's first 104-yard ground performance occurred last season in the 45-16 rout at South Carolina.
"He's been due for that kind of game," Bulldogs quarterback Stetson Bennett said. "He's a great player."
Having to adjust
The Vols played without leading rusher Tiyon Evans (ankle) and lost top deep threat JaVonta Payton to a shoulder injury after an 8-yard reception on the first play of Tennessee's second possession.
Losing Payton resulted in Ramel Keyton assuming more of the workload, with the 6-3, 195-pound junior from Marietta, Georgia, collecting five catches for 48 yards. The receptions were the first for Keyton since the Tennessee Tech game in mid-September.
"Obviously JaVonta has been a huge part of what we've done offensively," Vols coach Josh Heupel said. "Ramel stepped in and did some really nice things, but he doesn't have the same game experience as JaVonta. It's the next man up. It's the nature of the game."
Early gambling
With 9:48 remaining in the third quarter, Tennessee trailed 24-10 and faced fourth-and-4 at Georgia's 17-yard line. The Vols eschewed a Chase McGrath field-goal attempt and came away empty when Hendon Hooker rolled out under pressure and sailed the ball over the heads of everybody and into the end zone.
"It was just the area of the field, and the analytics were close on it," Heupel said. "I felt like it was a situation where we would go for it. It's tough to get the ball down there against those guys, too."
In the final two minutes of the third quarter in a 27-10 game, Tennessee converted a fourth-and-5 on a 9-yard pass from Hooker to Cedric Tillman to the Georgia 36, but a fourth-and-13 from the 39 moments later resulted in Hooker getting sacked by Channing Tindall.
Dawg bites
Georgia trailed the Tennessee series 22-21-2 before the arrival of Smart, who is 5-1 in the rivalry to put the Bulldogs ahead 26-23-2. ... The Bulldogs have allowed 76 points through 10 games, the fewest for the program since the 1950 team yielded 58. ... Junior linebacker Nakobi Dean had 11 tackles and two tackles for loss, while Tindall had a career performance with eight tackles and three sacks. ... It was also a career night for freshman receiver Adonai Mitchell, who had five catches for 65 yards. ... Senior punter Jake Camarda averaged 50.8 yards on five attempts.
Odds and ends
Tennessee is 0-15 in the last five seasons against the trio of Florida, Alabama and Georgia, with the last 14 of those defeats by double digits. ... Fifth-year senior defensive lineman Caleb Tremblay, a graduate transfer from Southern California, made his first start for the Vols. ... Tennessee had eight minutes and 43 seconds of possession time in the first quarter after having the ball for just 37 seconds in the first quarter last weekend at Kentucky. ... Redshirt junior linebacker Jeremy Banks racked up 15 tackles, his fourth straight game of double-digit stops. ... Fifth-year senior defensive lineman Matthew Butler collected a sack in his 50th career contest.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.