Dawgs Won't Tuck Tails After Rocky Loss

What's next for the reeling Georgia Bulldogs?

Head coach Mark Richt, the dean of SEC coaches, admits the Bulldogs have "a long way to go" to be a good football team. After consecutive losses to LSU and Tennessee, Georgia has this week to find the necessary answers to beat Vanderbilt Saturday. Off Oct. 24 before meeting top-ranked Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., Oct. 31, the Bulldogs actually don't return to Sanford Stadium for 35 days.

Considering the foul mood of fans, that might be a good thing.

"People are upset and that's what you expect," senior quarterback Joe Cox said.

"But we work hard. We don't want to come out on a Saturday, get embarrassed and then say 'Oh, well.' It hurts us worse than anybody, worse than fans, the coaches... we're the ones who play the game. It's not like we go out there and play bad then kind of say 'whatever.' We've been working since January every day to play 12 games.

"It's not a good feeling when you work that hard and it doesn't show but I think everybody is eager to work, I think everybody wants to correct mistakes and continue on with our season and finish up strong. We don't want to lay it down; we haven't done that yet. It would be even worse to get to this point and let it keep sliding."

While Richt doesn't expect to make wholesale lineup changes, he indicated that some tweaks could be made as players competed in practice this week. Fans also have voiced their frustration with defensive coordinator Willie Martinez and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.

At 3-3 -- its worst six-game mark since 1996 -- Georgia has struggled across the board. The Bulldogs are 100th in the nation in scoring defense (out of 120 FBS teams), 97th in total offense, 116th in penalties and 118th in turnover margin.

Changes? Take your pick.

"We've got to get better at defense, we've got to get better on offense, we've got to get better at coaching," Richt said.

"I guess what I'm saying is that it's a culmination of everyone. I'm not pointing fingers at any one individual; I'm pointing fingers at all of us as a whole, we all must improve; that's what I'm trying to say."

Cox, who threw for 146 yards and two interceptions against the Vols and agrees he deserves his share of the blame for offensive woes, tried to say it, too.

"I think we all need to have a big gut check and find out how we want to finish out the season," Cox said. "You have to find guys that want to play and want to do it the right way."

The 45-19 defeat at Tennessee was certainly the wrong way.

The Bulldogs have surrendered 37 or more points in three of their last six games, while the offense has managed just four touchdowns in its last three games.

Cox says the Bulldogs need to regroup in a hurry. After throwing for 738 yards and eight touchdowns in the first three games of the season, Cox has 617 passing yards and three touchdowns in the last three. Overall, he has completed 104-of-178 passes for 11 touchdowns with eight interceptions.

"We obviously want to win every game," said Cox, who backed up by redshirt sophomore Logan Gray and true freshmen Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger.

"We've had a couple wins -- I know Arizona State, as an offense, we felt like we lost that game. The way it felt after the game, we know we didn't play well. I didn't play well. It was the first time I had won a game but felt like I lost the way I played the game.



"We just have to put everything together and finish the season strong. Obviously we want to win every game -- that's our goal. But right now we are going to focus on Vanderbilt and win this game and go into the off week with a good mindset, give everyone some rest and kind of catch a second wind to finish the last half of the season."