DT Owens likely out for the season

Jeff Owen’s injury might have more of an emotional effect on the Bulldogs than anything else.

Georgia’s star defensive tackle suffered a serious injury to his right knee at the 7-minute, 15-second mark of the second quarter. The preliminary reports indicate he may be out for the season with a torn ACL.

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Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

Matthew Stafford (7) stops to take a look at Uga VII as they walk off the field with a 45-21 victory over Georgia Southern. The junior quarterback finished with 275 yards on 13-of-21 passing and two touchdowns.

BY THE NUMBERS

• How they scored • UGA stats
• SEC Standings • AP Poll
• Schultz: One win, lots to nitpick
• Photos: Georgia opens season
• Owens likely out for season
• The freshmen • Reception leaders
• Uga VII • Photos • Video
• Forum: Defense looks shaky
• Grade the Bulldogs
• More on Georgia

“We won’t know ‘til I get an MRI,” said Owens, on crutches with his right knee in a brace before getting into a St. Mary’s Hospital van after the game. “I’ll be OK.”

But will his teammates be OK?

“That hurt me,” senior defensive tackle Corvey Irvin said. “Jeff is the leader of the D-line. He’s the anchor. I know he motivates me. I’ve just got to step up now and be a better player. But I hate it.”

“It’s a devastating loss,” senior linebacker Dannell Ellerbe said.

In the meantime, Georgia still has games to play. The Bulldogs are also without junior Kade Weston, who underwent a knee scope this past week and likely won’t return until Game Three at South Carolina.

Irvin will likely move up to start beside Geno Atkins and redshirt sophomores Ricardo Craford and Brandon Wood will move into the rotation. Also freshman DeAngelo Tyson, who played Saturday, “will have to play more now,” coach Mark Richt said.

“It was sad,” said head coach Mark Richt. “I went and saw him at halftime. I said I don’t know for sure [how bad the knee injury is] but the best part of this is we get to hang out with each other for another year. He said, ‘everything happens for a reason. I haven’t had much adversity in my life and this will test me and I’ve got to handle it like a man.’ I’m sure he will.”

Eagles likely to return

Coach Mark Richt said this week he hoped Georgia would continue to schedule Georgia Southern every four years as it has for the last three meetings (2000, ‘04, ‘08).

Arthur Johnson, Georgia’s associate athletics director for internal operations, said the Bulldogs are considering the Eagles for the 2012 season, possibly for an opening game on Sept. 1. But they don’t have a contract and aren’t close to having one.

The problem is Georgia, like all the rest of the SEC teams, is waiting for the league schedules for 2011 and beyond to be released. Once they are the Dogs will know if and when they might have availability.

But then it’s still not done deal. Georgia has been trying to schedule more marquee non-regional games with fellow BCS opponents. It has already scheduled a game at Louisville that season.

“We like to play them every once in a while but it’s not an ideal situation for us,” Johnson said of Georgia Southern. “For now let’s just say they’re being strongly considered.”

The best thing about playing the Eagles is they’re a cheap date. Georgia paid them only $260,000 for Saturday’s matchup.

300-yard game eludes Stafford

Matthew Stafford would never admit it but one of these days he’d like to have a 300-yard passing game.

Despite improving to 18-4 as Georgia’s starting quarterback on Saturday, the junior from Dallas has never reached that milestone. It looked for sure like Stafford would Saturday with 206 yards at halftime. But he finished with 275 yards on 13-of-21 passing by the time he left the game in the third quarter. He threw for two TDs.

“I played all right,” Stafford said. “I missed some guys, too. I threw an anchor to Mo [Massaquoi] and a short one to A.J. [Green] on a takeoff. So it could’ve been better.”

An “anchor” is when a quarterback throws so short on a deep route the receiver has to stop to catch the ball and gets tackled.

“He was so open I didn’t want to overthrow him,” Stafford said. “That’s no excuse but that’s what I was thinking.”

There also were a couple of drops, including one by Kris Durham that would have put Stafford over 300.

But Richt said overall Stafford was sharp, especially from a game-management standpoint.

“I know Matthew would like to throw for 300 and he actually would have if he plays the whole game,” Richt said. “… But he was in complete control and always got us in the right play. He played a solid game.”

Green, the dynamic freshman receiver, certainly liked what he saw. He hauled in a 36-yard missile from Stafford to set up the Bulldogs’ first score.

“It had some heat on it,” said Green, who was tackled on the 2. “I was just thinking, ‘I don’t care if I score, I’m gonna catch this.’ So I just concentrated and looked it in.”

Stafford averaged a hefty 21.5 yards per completion. He had a 61-yard TD pass to Durham, and passed for gains of 47, 37 and 32 yards.

“Hopefully we can keep this up and be a pretty dynamic offense,” he said.

Defense ‘disappointed’

Richt said he wasn’t upset with the defense giving up three touchdowns but the Dogs’ defenders were.

“Yeah, I’m disappointed,” said middle linebacker and defensive captain Dannell Ellerbe. “I was actually hoping they wouldn’t score today after we shut them out in the first half. I think we’ve got to get these second-team guys ready to play.”

Ellerbe did not play in the second half due to cramping.

Said defensive tackle Geno Atkins: “I just think we lost our intensity, our focus. A win’s a win and we still won the game but we have to play better.”

All three Georgia Southern TDs came after Georgia had built a 38-0 third-quarter lead.

Etc.

Quarterback Joe Cox came in on Georgia’s third possession because “that was the plan,” Richt said. “Joe Cox is a good football player. He has every right to play.” …

WR Kenneth Harris left the stadium on crutches with his right foot in a plastic boot after injuring his ankle in the first half. Richt said his return this week is “questionable.”… Caleb King was Georgia’s leading rusher with 95 yards on 12 carries. He said he’s not sure why coaches waited until the second half to put him in but was happy they finally did. “The coaches do a good job of knowing when to make the call and I just wanted to be ready when they called my number,” he said. “I was kind of nervous, I’m not going to lie. My goal was to score a touchdown but that’s OK.” … Ellerbe was wearing No. 44 in honor of fallen teammate Marcus Washington, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury. … On Georgia Southern’s first-quarter field goal attempt, one official signaled it was good and the other no good. It was good.