The Tennessee Vols’ 45-24 win against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets wasn’t quite as lopsided as the final score indicated.

It was very much a game heading into the fourth quarter, and there were a couple of critical moments in the game where Georgia Tech could’ve made things uncomfortably close for the Vols.

And that’s excellent news for Tennessee.

Tennessee needed to be tested more than they needed to make a statement

Look, no statements were going to be made on Saturday night by Tennessee. If the Vols had won 45-0, it probably would’ve said more about Georgia Tech than Tennessee.

What Tennessee needed on Saturday night, in order to grow as a team, was a hard-fought win against a team that was competing hard all night long.

And that’s exactly what they got against Georgia Tech.

Every time it looked like the Vols were going to pull away, the Yellow Jackets punched back — the blocked punt touchdown in the first quarter and the strong third quarter from Georgia Tech’s run game and intermediate passing game were things the Vols had to overcome to get to the win.

Every time Georgia Tech punched back, Tennessee answered — both on offense and defense.

We saw some big-time plays from Jeremiah Telander and Dejuan Lane. We saw the Vols’ pass rush step up in key moments.

And most importantly, we saw true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon face some adversity — some early stalled drives and some iffy decision making — and stay incredibly poised.

That’s probably the most important part of playing quarterback. Adversity is going to happen, but the quarterback has to be able to move on to the next play. Brandon, despite being just 18 years old, had no issues in that department against Georgia Tech. When the game looked like it was about to speed up on him, he settled in and didn’t try to do too much.

Brandon also made some big-time plays in big moments with his legs to keep drives alive.

This is the type of game the Vols needed before playing Texas in two weeks. They needed to be challenged. They needed to face some adversity.

The great news for Tennessee is that they get to go into the film room, correct some things, get right against Kennesaw State, and then host Texas on September 26.

It wasn’t pretty at times on Saturday night in Atlanta, but the game couldn’t have gone any better for what this Vols team needs right now.