ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia left little doubt in Saturday's 38-0 win over Tennessee Tech with a 21-point first quarter.

The Bulldogs had not scored 21 points in a first quarter since 1998, when they jumped all over Kent State 56-3 in 1998. There had been some question as to how Georgia would respond entering the game 4-4, but coach Mark Richt was pleased.

"We had tremendous focus to start the game," Richt said, "dominating really on both sides of the ball."

Senior quarterback Joe Cox went 6-for-6 for 80 yards with a 23-yard touchdown to tight end Orson Charles in the first half as the Bulldogs stretched their lead to 31-0. The teams drained the clock in the second half, resulting in a speedy 2-hour, 36-minute contest.

Georgia's 41-37 win over South Carolina on Sept. 12 lasted 3:55, so the Bulldogs now have played the longest and shortest games in the SEC this season.

Saturday's shutout was Georgia's first since back-to-back blankings of South Carolina (18-0) and UAB (34-0) in 2006 and its first on Homecoming since a 21-0 defeat of Kentucky in 1981.

"It was awesome to get a shutout," Richt said. "It doesn't matter who you play."

The Bulldogs held the Golden Eagles to 55 total yards on 47 plays, marking the second-lowest output by a Georgia foe in program history. In a 76-0 win over The Citadel in 1958, Georgia held the Bulldogs to 39 total yards.

Ealey's big day

Freshman tailback Washaun Ealey scored the first two touchdowns of his Georgia career, reaching the end zone from 7 yards out midway through the first quarter and from 44 yards out on the first play of the second. Ealey finished with a team-high 89 yards on seven carries.

Freshman cornerback Branden Smith had three carries for 72 yards, highlighted by a 51-yard touchdown with 3:01 left in the first quarter.

The bigger picture

Saturday's 38-point setback doesn't deter the progress Tennessee Tech is making in Watson Brown's third season. The Golden Eagles are 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference after going 4-7 and 3-9 during Brown's first two seasons in Cookeville.

"We're about halfway there, but I'm proud of these kids," Brown said of the rebuilding chore. "We're making progress, no doubt. This program has got to get up to the level of the top programs in this conference.

"It's been 30 years since we've won an OVC championship. These kids are motivated to do that, and I'm having fun with it."

Looking ahead

The Bulldogs will host Auburn this week in the renewal of the Deep South's oldest rivalry. The game will have a 7 p.m. kickoff and will televised by ESPN or ESPN2, with that announcement expected today.

Auburn leads the series 53-51-8, but Georgia is riding its first three-game series win streak since 1980-82, when the Bulldogs had Herschel Walker at tailback.

"This was a steppingstone with Auburn coming up," senior defensive tackle Jeff Owens said. "They are going to come in here highly motivated."

Odds and ends

Bulldogs sophomore kicker Blair Walsh made a 24-yard field goal in the second quarter and is now 13-of-14 this season. ... Redshirt freshman defensive end Cornelius Washington got his first career start as Justin Houston sat out with an elbow injury. ... Freshman defensive end Montez Robinson notched the first two sacks of his career during the first half. ... Logan Gray's interception with 1:21 left in the half put the Bulldogs at minus-16 this season in turnover ratio.