The Georgia Bulldogs were never really tested Saturday afternoon in its 66-0 thrashing of Troy.

A lot of youthful faces saw time against the Trojans on Saturday afternoon in a game in which star Todd Gurley played just one series.

Here are five takeaways from the Bulldogs hammering of the Trojans:

Georgia’s still very much alive in the SEC East: Missouri lost in a shocker to a very bad Indiana team in which the offensive line could not protect Maty Mauk at all and the pass rush minus Markus Golden struggled. South Carolina had its hands full in Nashville with a scrappy Vanderbilt team, and Florida got throttled in Tuscaloosa. The Bulldogs are still a very good team that played its most complete game in all three phases on Saturday, and with the East wide open, next week’s game versus Tennessee is big.

Defense will continue to get better: They were facing a far less talented opponent, but we saw some encouraging signs from the Georgia defense. We really on saw the first team unit in the first half, but tackling was sound and coverage was executed well after the Trojans made some passes on its opening drive. Aaron Davis recovered a fumble as several young guys saw time in the secondary which has been the weakness of the Bulldogs so far this season. Senior corner Damian Swann did not play due to an injury sustained in practice but will be ready to go next week against the Vols.

Georgia’s young guys are ready to compete now: Sony Michel had a huge day rushing for 155 yards and three scores on 10 carries, Isaiah McKenzie returned a punt 52 yards for a touchdown and a had a 49-yard end around run in which he showed off the jets. Aaron Davis played well at the safety spot and recovered a fumble on a sure first down pass for Troy. Dominick Sanders played well also in the defensive backfield recording three tackles and a tackle for loss. Safety Tramel Terry saw action late and picked off a Pruitt pass in the end zone.

How much confidence does Mark Richt have in the passing game?: Who knows, they may have not passed the ball much because it was Troy. However, Mason has looked far from spectacular all season long despite throwing for more than 200 yards last week against South Carolina. Mason is averaging just 5.3 yards per pass past the line of scrimmage, which is the third shortest of any quarterback in a Power 5 conference and is the shortest in the SEC. His longest pass on Saturday was 35 yards; most of his 97 yards throwing came on short to intermediate routes. When redshirt freshman Brice Ramsay came in, you noticed a lot more zip on the ball. Throughout the majority of its three games, the Bulldogs have been somewhat one-dimentional and that will have to change beginning next week if Georgia’s going to have success in SEC play.

Good to build on: This was a good team win. A lot of players contributed and it was the Bulldogs most complete win of the year. But now it gets tougher. A sneaky good Tennessee team comes to Athens next weekend followed by Vanderbilt, Missouri and Arkansas. All four of those opponents will present challenges to Georgia, it’s important for them to put the type of game we saw from them on Saturday afternoon together.