ATHENS, Ga. – Two weeks after suffering a black eye in a blackout game against Alabama, the No.10 Georgia Bulldogs (5-1, 2-1 SEC) got back on track with a solid if unspectacular 26-14 victory over Tennessee Saturday before 92,746 fans at Sanford Stadium.

The Volunteers? They were derailed long before arriving in Athens. The question is whether or not slipping to 2-4 and 0-3 in the league will mean the train carrying coach Phillip Fulmer will leave the station sooner than later.

Georgia dominated the game early, jumping out to a 13-0 lead that could easily have been 21-0. Tennessee was able to make things interesting, slicing the deficit to 13-7 late in the first half and 20-14 midway through the fourth quarter.

And while quarterback Nick Stephens might be the answer to the Volunteers’ quarterback woes – he finished 13-30-0 for 208 yards and two touchdowns – it still wasn’t enough to pull off the upset.

“I’m very disappointed with the loss,” said a downhearted Fulmer, whose team is off to its worst league start in 20 years. “We just couldn’t get any offense going to day. But Georgia is a good team and I congratulate them.”

Georgia answered Tennessee’s last touchdown with a 41-yard Blair Walsh field goal at 14:55 to make it a two score game, and the freshman sidewinder added insurance at the game’s 2:49 juncture with a 28-yard trey – his fourth of the day - to seal the deal.

“We kept this game closer than it could’ve been with the field goals,” Richt said. “That concerns me. We need to do a better job of taking advantage when we can.”

In the early going it appeared this one would be a walkover.

The Bulldogs went 79 yards on 12 plays for a touchdown on their first possession of the game, capped off when Brannan Southerland – making his first appearance of the season following a foot injury – scored from a yard out at 7:16 of the opening quarter.

And it looked as though it’d be 14-0 on the next UGA series when Matthew Stafford found A.J. Green streaking unhindered in the end zone. Green dropped the potential TD pass, however, and the hosts had to settle for a 34-yard Walsh field goal.

Walsh made it 13-0 at 12:54 of the second quarter when he spilt the pipes from 20-yards out, and a stingy Bulldogs defense and ineffective UT offense led the partisans to believe this would be over quickly.

But Stephens found his groove and helped Fulmer’s crew make things interesting.

His 60-yard pass to Denarius Moore helped set up a 2-yard TD toss to Gerald Jones at 2:23 of the second and the PAT closed the gap to 13-7.

Yet, when UGA responded with a 97-yard, 9 play drive – highlighted by a 9-yard scoring hookup between Matthew Stafford and Mohamed Massaquoi with nine seconds left in the first half – Bulldog Nation regained confidence as the home team pulled out to a 20-7 edge.

“That was huge,” Richt said. “Just to get out of the hole was big, but to march down and score gave us a little momentum.”

Tennessee’s defense would come up big in the third and give the Big Orange the chance to get back in the hunt.

Up by 13 and driving for what would’ve surely been the decisive score, Stafford was picked off by Eric Berry in the end zone, and the safety returned it all the way to the enemy 46.

From there Stephens got busy again and threw a 13-yard TD pass to Lucas Taylor with 5:37 left in the third quarter. The PAT made it 20-14 and the Vols still had hope.

Walsh’s final two field goals dashed that hope and, coupled with Vanderbilt’s 17-14 loss to Mississippi State, put Georgia tied for the top spot in the SEC East.

Stafford suffered his first two-pick game of the season but hit 25 of 36 passes for 310 yards (a career high) and a TD.

“It’s big for us,” Stafford said. “I know it wasn’t too pretty. We had a chance to really open up the game and we didn’t do it. I threw two picks in the end zone that killed our momentum.”

Massaquoi made the most of his five receptions, getting 103 yards and one score.

Kowshon Moreno had a workmanlike performance carrying the ball, netting 101 yards on 27 totes.

In all UGA outgained UT 458-209.

Reshad Jones and Darryl Gamble were in on five tackles each for the victors.

The UT rushing game netted just 1 yard, leaving the offensive burden to Stephens and his receivers.

Jones had four catches for 68 yards and a touchdown; Moore had just one but it went for 60; and Lucas Taylor caught four of Stephens’ aerials for 47 yards and a TD.

“It’s time to go out there and get back to work and get things done,” Stephens said. “We have the coaches and the talent to get things done.”

Elix Wilson was a one-man wrecking crew for the Vols’ defense, with 10 solo tackles and six assists.