Georgia wasn’t perfect on Saturday but remained undefeated after knocking off Tennessee 38-12 in Athens. The performance by the Bulldog offense wasn’t anything to brag about, but considering the team put up nearly 40 on a solid Tennessee defense, that should give an indication of the standard for Kirby Smart’s program.

That’s something the Georgia coach touched on immediately after the home win. The Bulldogs are now 5-0 on the year and 3-0 in SEC play.

Smart’s opening statement:

“Our guys played hard; we just didn’t always play smart. We had too many undisciplined penalties. We picked up a fumble for a touchdown. It bounced up lucky. If not for that, it would’ve been an even tighter game. … You can’t make excuses. We need to execute. Lack of execution gets you beat. We’ve worked hard in practice the last two weeks. There were no practices where we took time off. We just want better execution in game moments. … We struggled at times. We didn’t hit some of the plays we thought we could have. We must execute at a higher level to be successful. There were times when we didn’t have much movement up front. But when we had to play well in the second half, we challenged them and they did so. It’s big when you answer a challenge, but it shouldn’t have to come to that. We preach good habits, competitiveness, physicality.”

On the upcoming Vanderbilt game:

“Vanderbilt is well coached, they have a good defensive coach, they have a physical football team. I have respect for Vanderbilt. Their kids play hard. We need to prepare, but it’s not about Vanderbilt, it’s about us. We need to go out and improve.”

On the home fans in Athens:

“The fans helped us on third down. They had great energy. Early on, they were loud and proud. They helped us get off to a good start.”