Penalty drop not enough for Richt

Athens —- Still America’s most-penalized major-college football team, Georgia improved in that area last week, coach Mark Richt said Tuesday. But not enough.

Of Georgia’s 11 penalties, Richt said three were “a coaching decision to burn clock” and two others were acknowledged by the SEC upon film review to have been probably incorrect calls.

But that still left enough penalties, Richt said, to trigger the extra conditioning drills he had promised as punishment for excessive flags.

Richt wouldn’t say how many penalties he’d find acceptable but gave a hint: “We were in good shape at halftime [against Tennessee]; we only had two.”

After being penalized twice for 10 yards in the first half, the Bulldogs finished the game with 11 penalties for 76 yards. Just one penalty was for a personal foul.

Halfway through the regular season, Georgia is averaging 10.67 penalties per game, most among the 119 Division I-A teams. Florida State is next at 9.8 per game.

In penalty yards per game, Georgia’s 85.50 ranks 116th, better than only Florida State (90), Hawaii (89.17) and USC (86).

“The penalties are the most disappointing thing [about the season] to me at this point,” Richt said.

Sibling rivalry

Georgia fullback Brannan Southerland’s younger brother, Blake, a senior linebacker at Greater Atlanta Christian, has committed to sign with Vanderbilt, Georgia’s opponent Saturday.

“He better be rooting for the Dogs Saturday,” Brannan Southerland said with a laugh Tuesday. “He’s not a Commodore until he signs.”

Blake Southerland committed to Vanderbilt in July after being told by Georgia that it didn’t plan to offer a scholarship.

Prince of thieves

Vanderbilt has intercepted 11 passes this season, tied for most in the SEC. Georgia has intercepted three passes, tied for fewest in the SEC.

Richt plans to make a point of that disparity this week.

“The most glaring problem we have is that we haven’t caught the ball better” on possible interceptions, Richt said. “I’m going to bring it up to the guys.”

Richt said the defensive backs have caught the ball better in practice-field drills than in games.

“We’ll get more chances,” safety Reshad Jones said, “and we’re going to make the best of them.”

Waiting on LSU

Georgia won’t find out until this weekend the kickoff time of next week’s game at LSU.

CBS Sports, which three times per season can choose its SEC Game of the Week on just six days’ notice, will wait until Sunday to pick between the Georgia-LSU and Alabama-Tennessee games for the network’s Oct. 25 telecast.

The game CBS chooses will kick off at 3:30 p.m. The other will be televised on ESPN at 7:45 p.m.

Meanwhile, CBS confirmed it will air the Georgia-Florida game at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 1.

Etc.

Bruce Figgins will start at tight end against Vanderbilt, Richt said. … Third-string tailback Richard Samuel deserves more carries, Richt said, “although anytime you give one to Richard you’re taking one away from Knowshon [Moreno] or Caleb [King].” … Although Vanderbilt has announced a quarterback switch for Saturday’s game —- Mackenzi Adams replacing Chris Nickson as the starter —- Richt expects to see both during the game.