Fairly grading Georgia football's as-expected big win over Tennessee Tech

After a dominating performance against Clemson at the Aflac Kickoff Game in Week 1, Georgia football had a "tune-up" game against FCS opponent, Tennessee Tech in Week 2.

As expected, Georgia made a cakewalk of the game in terms of the scoreboard with a 48-3 win, and the starters began taking a rest after the first series of the 3rd quarter. But did the Dawgs look the part of the No. 1 team in the nation?

Fairly grading the Bulldogs on a dominating performance against a helpless opponent isn't easy, but someone has to do it.

The Georgia defense wasn't expected to give up a lot of ground to the Golden Eagles, and they didn't. However, Tennessee Tech did pass the century mark in rushing -- 116 yards -- which is one of those stats that is more about pride than mattering in the game.

Georgia held the Golden Eagles to just 2.9 yards per rush, with Aidan Littles being the top Tennessee Tech rusher on the day with 45 yards. The Dawgs didn't give up any explosive running plays, which was a good sign especially out of the reserves.

It's hard to give anything less than a top grade to a unit that gave up only 134 passing yards and sacked the quarterback three times.

Granted, Tennessee Tech only made eight pass attempts in the entire game, so there wasn't a lot of testing going on for the Bulldogs' secondary. But both first and second teams looked solid on pass coverage, and getting to the quarterback.

The Georgia rushing attack as solid and there were no lost fumbles. That pretty much sums up the day for the Bulldogs' running back room.

However, against an opponent like Tennessee Tech it would have been good to see a little more ground-and-pound out of the Georgia backs. Some of that may fall on coaching and Mike Bobo's play calls, but even when the Dawgs did run the ball there was no real explosiveness aside from Trevor Etienne's 45-yard run in the 2nd quarter.

Seeing the offensive line open up some big holes against the Golden Eagles would have gone a long way to easing concerns about the Dawgs rushing attack.

Carson Beck went 18-of-25 for 242 yards and five touchdowns (tying a Georgia single-game record), threw no interceptions (although one pass definitely should have been picked) and wasn't sacked at all. He did all this in the space of a half-plus-two-series of football. Not a bad day's work.

Backup Gunner Stockton came in for mop-up duty after the second series of the 3rd quarter, and put up respectable numbers, going 10-of-12 for 90 yards and was sacked once.

The Georgia pass offense gets docked from an A+ to an A for allowing that sack and for Stockton not finding a receiver in the end zone.

So despite the separate units all getting grades in the A range, the overall team will settle for a B-minus, and here's why.

The Bulldogs were flagged for nine penalties totaling 85 yards. This is a continuing trend from the opening game against Clemson where Georgia racked up seven penalties for 70 yards. Most of the penalties committed against Tennessee Tech were completely avoidable. Just mental mistakes and unforced errors, and those can come back to bite you when playing SEC opponents.

Georgia has been one of the better teams in recent years in regards to penalties, and with the schedule the Dawgs have in front of them this season, they need to stay in that same category.

And let's be honest. Anything less than a shutout against Tennessee Tech doesn't deserve an overall A grade.