The state's Top Dawg, it seems, bites back.

Republican governor and lifelong University of Georgia fan Sonny Perdue sank his teeth into The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the Bulldogs' loss Saturday to the University of Tennessee.

• Text of Gov. Sonny Perdue's letter

Perdue, who is in the final weeks of a re-election bid against Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, fired off a letter to the editor after reading the newspaper's account of the game Sunday morning. "Sunday's sports page headline ("Dogs get put in their place," referring to Georgia's 51-33 loss to Tennessee, College Football, Oct. 8) is an indication of the way the AJC views Georgia," Perdue wrote. "From the front page to the business page and now to the sports page, it is as if the Journal-Constitution gleefully awaits lousy news about all things Georgia and pounces with their poison pens whenever bad things happen to the good people of our state."

Perdue, who was a walk-on quarterback with UGA in the mid-1960s, watched the game in Athens with his wife, Mary, from the president's box. The Bulldogs blew an early lead and were overwhelmed by Tennessee in the fourth quarter, a loss that dropped Georgia's national ranking to 16 in the Associated Press poll.

"Georgia can't win every game, and we can't get every headline just right," said Journal-Constitution Editor Julia Wallace. "Fortunately, our avid readers, including the governor, help keep us straight."

Perdue became angry when he saw the headline Sunday morning on the way to an early church service in Athens, said spokesman Dan McLagan. The governor, who occasionally has displayed a hair-trigger temper, dictated a rough draft of the letter over the telephone, which McLagan refined and sent back to the governor for his approval.

"The letter is mostly him," McLagan said. "He was appalled. He's expressing his true feelings."

Perdue was a standout high school quarterback at Warner Robins High School and played his freshman and sophomore years at UGA, where he saw little time on the field.

"I had a problem with SEC football," Perdue once joked. "I was small, but I was slow."

The governor, however, wasn't joking when he sent the letter. The newspaper, he wrote, "criticizes, investigates and ridicules all things Georgia."

Perdue has been at odds with the newspaper over its reporting about a Florida land deal and a tax break he signed that gives him a $100,000 tax savings. Polls show Perdue with a double-digit lead over Taylor.

UGA Senior quarterback Joe Tereshinski took the headline better than the governor did.

"Coming from a player, I don't enjoy seeing that on the front page," he said. "The only way you can control what gets put up on the headline is if you win, and we didn't. I guess it's fair game."

Staff writer Carter Strickland contributed to this article.