It started as well as Tennessee could’ve asked for.

A 75-yard touchdown run from Jaylen Wright against the 2-time defending national champs and No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs was, as they say, exactly what the doctor ordered.

And then the rest of the day, well, that was what Georgia has been ordering the last 3 years.

The Dawgs didn’t flinch and casually cruised to another blowout victory with a 38-10 win in Knoxville. As in, their SEC-record-tying 28th consecutive victory.

Here are 3 takeaways from the statement made by the Dawgs in Knoxville.

1. Carson Beck was masterful

My goodness. Beck got everything he wanted.

The Georgia quarterback completed 24 of 30 passes for 298 yards and 3 touchdowns. It didn’t matter that Ladd McConkey barely played because of “stiffness” or that RaRa Thomas went down with an injury. Brock Bowers also came up limping at one point but stayed in the game.

Beck was surgical. It helped that Dillon Bell had the best game of his young career with 90 receiving yards and a score, as well as a touchdown pass on a trick play in the 1st quarter.

The Dawgs offense was a freight train that couldn’t be stopped with Beck leading the way.

2. Tennessee continues to struggle against quality foes with this 2023 squad

Stop me if you’ve heard this before — the Vols couldn’t keep pace with a quality foe. It was a different feel than watching the Vols squander a halftime lead against Alabama. It wasn’t even the same feeling of being in a 1-score game at halftime at Mizzou.

Joe Milton completed 17-of-30 passes for 147 yards and he failed to lead a touchdown drive after that opening series. Wright was held to just 15 yards on 8 carries after that 75-yard touchdown. This was a reminder that the Vols aren’t at the level they were at in 2022.

The first home loss in 2 years was never really on the table for Tennessee against a Georgia team in peak form.

3. The Dawgs will hold that No. 1 spot

There’s no doubt about it. The Dawgs will still be the No. 1 team in the country heading into the final week of the regular season.

This 4-game stretch — with a trio of ranked foes — was supposed to challenge Georgia unlike any regular season stretch that we’ve seen during this 3-year run of dominance. Instead, Georgia won 3 games by at least 4 scores and all 4 games were multi-score victories.

There might not be any slowing this team down … even in Atlanta.