Former Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge tweeted Tuesday afternoon that playing between the hedges at Sanford Stadium is overrated. He described the atmosphere as “not that loud” and predicted a big Tennessee win as a result.

Kirby Smart, Georgia players and Bulldogs fans seem to have taken that personally. Georgia throttled the Vols, 27-13, in a game that never felt competitive to secure a spot at the top of the SEC East and, barring a monumental collapse, a trip to Atlanta.

The 2022 Tennessee Volunteers have done incredible things. They’ve exorcised a few demons in Florida and Alabama, far exceeded expectations in Josh Heupel’s 2nd year as head coach and will be in good position for a New Year’s 6 Bowl or perhaps a College Football Playoff appearance. They certainly received a lot of help on Saturday.

But the Vols are still deeply flawed. And that’s OK.

Tennessee did not look like its usual dominant self against Georgia. The Vols shot themselves in the foot with several pre-snap penalties, couldn’t get any traction on offense and looked like a high school team attempting to stop Stetson Bennett IV and Georgia’s offense, especially in the 1st half.

Sanford Stadium absolutely played a factor in that. From the very beginning, Tennessee looked scared, rattled, lost — whatever you want to call it. Take away the time stamp, and you’d think the 2020 Vols took the field Saturday.

And the atmosphere inside the stadium definitely exceeded expectations, at least for people like Ainge. Georgia’s defense fed off the energy the crowd provided from the jump.

The Bulldogs’ defensive unit was uber-impressive against one of the top offenses in the nation. Tennessee didn’t score its 1st touchdown until the 4th quarter and was held to its lowest point total all season. Even down a few players, the Bulldogs were swarming, sacking Hendon Hooker 6 times. For what it’s worth, Georgia had totaled 10 sacks on the season heading into Week 10.

An underrated aspect of Georgia’s defensive domination was its ability to stop the run, holding the Vols to 94 yards rushing. That’s against a Vols unit that was averaging just less than 200 yards rushing per game, too.

Tennessee’s offensive line, which had played well most of the season, looked outmatched against Georgia’s talented front. The 6 sacks have already been mentioned, but terrible penalties and poor run blocking added to what was easily the unit’s worst performance of the season. There were times when it looked like the last place it wanted to be was on the field.

The penalties were glaring, but when the O-linemen weren’t jumping offsides, the Bulldogs were blowing them up and getting in Hooker’s face. It shows on his stat sheet, too. Hooker totaled 195 yards passing with 1 interception — though the pick was much less telling than the numerous overthrows to open receivers.

It seemed as if even the thought of Georgia’s pass rush was getting into Hooker’s head. He missed Jalin Hyatt wide open in the 1st quarter, Bru McCoy and Princeton Fant in the 2nd half and a few more shorter-yardage throws throughout. The first 3 all had varying chances of scoring.

Sure, all quarterbacks miss those from time to time, but not Hooker — not this season. Georgia forced Hooker into uncomfortable situations early and often. The defensive game plan was simple and worked to perfection. And because of it, Georgia just served Tennessee a warm slice of humble pie.

But in case you didn’t notice, the Vols still have at least 4 games left to play. How they respond following a poor showing will convey a lot more than what they did at Sanford Stadium.

In 2016, Tennessee lost a backbreaker to Texas A&M. The Vols started the season similar to this year, jumping to 5-0 with wins over rivals such as the Gators and, yes, the Bulldogs.

The loss to the Aggies derailed the Volunteers’ season. Tennessee went on to get smacked by Alabama the next week, then lost to South Carolina and Vanderbilt to end the year. Despite beating Florida and Georgia, the Vols finished the regular season 8-4 and failed to even win the East.

It’s understating it to say that Tennessee still has plenty to play for this season. Ohio State and TCU struggled, while Clemson lost to Notre Dame and Alabama lost to LSU. As of now, it’s safe to assume Tennessee can still crack the Playoff field should it win out — and do it in style.

Preseason expectations for Tennessee hovered around 9-3. The Vols are staring down 11-1 and the best regular-season finish they have had since the 2000s.

They’d regret it if they let a loss to the future No. 1 team in the nation make a mess of that.