Black day for Bulldogs in Jacksonville

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

JACKSONVILLE -- If Georgia was to have any chance of beating the nation's No. 1-ranked team Saturday -- a big if -- the Bulldogs knew they would need to play a clean, mistake-free game.

Instead, the Dogs played with the type of sloppiness that has characterized their forlorn season, committing eight penalties in the first half and four turnovers in the second.

The result was about what you would expect: a 41-17 loss to Florida, which has beaten Georgia 17 times in the past 20 games.

Any chance the Bulldogs had to make a game of this meeting was buried under the second-half pile of turnovers. Leading 24-10 at halftime, Florida intercepted passes to end four of Georgia's first five possessions of the second half. Three of the interceptions were thrown by Joe Cox, Georgia's starting quarterback, and the fourth by backup Logan Gray.

"I lost the game -- three picks," Cox said afterward. "Any time you turn the ball over that many times and give people chances to score, a good team is going to score. And they did. ... I beat us with my mistakes."

Georgia has committed 21 turnovers in eight games this season, compared to its opponents' six (none by Florida on Saturday). Georgia has lost the turnover battle in six of eight games and not won it in any of them.

"That's not very good," coach Mark Richt said. "As a matter of fact, that's really bad.

"It's very frustrating. ... There's only four-regular season games left [and] there' s no guarantee of a bowl right at this moment, so will we play a game where we don't do things that hinders us from being the very best we can be?

"And I'm responsible for all that," Richt added. "I'm not doing a very good job of keeping the turnovers and the penalties down. It'd be nice to see what could happen."

The latest loss dropped the Bulldogs to 4-4 overall, the first time they have been without a winning record so late in a season since 1996, and 3-3 in the SEC. Florida, on the other hand, improved to 8-0 (6-0 SEC) by winning its 18th consecutive game over two seasons.

Florida has beaten Georgia by a cumulative 90-27 over the past two seasons. About the only difference this time was that the Bulldogs went down wearing black helmets and black pants, which the coaches sprung on the players as a surprise just before kickoff in an attempt to fuel their emotions.

The players said the helmets fired them up, but Florida nevertheless scored the first two times it had the ball for a 14-0 lead.

It was a bad day all around for Georgia. In addition to losing the game, the Bulldogs watched haplessly as Florida quarterback Tim Tebow broke former Georgia great Herschel Walker's 27-year-old SEC career record for rushing touchdowns. Tebow's record-breaking 50th came late in the second quarter, when he ran 23 yards up the middle, untouched by the Georgia defense, to rebuild Florida's lead to 24-10 after Georgia had cut it to a touchdown.

More bad news for Georgia, although it's not known yet how bad: The Bulldogs' best player, A.J. Green, left the game after a jarring hit on Florida's third interception and did not return.

"He definitely got the wind knocked out of him," Richt said. "That was most of the problem at that moment. I don't know if there was any kind of rib injury beyond that. We'll have to wait and see."

Richt was noncommittal on whether the latest loss will bring lineup changes for the remainder of the season, including at quarterback.

"I'll say this about Joe: He is one of the finest young men I have been around," Richt said. "He has been taking on the leadership of this program since January. I think men in general want respect. I think women are made where they want love. I think men are made a little bit more where they want respect. Joe is a very respected man in our locker room and in our program.

"I can't tell you how many guys -- offense, defense, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors -- came up to him [after Saturday's game] and wanted to let him know how they felt about him."

Asked specifically if Cox will remain the starting quarterback, Richt said: "I don't know the answer to that. I think we're all just going to look at the big picture at all positions."

Two of Cox's three interceptions Saturday were tipped and the other thrown as he tried to avoid a sack. He has thrown 12 picks this season.

While turnovers doomed the Dogs in the second half, penalties undermined them in the first, when they committed eight infractions for 84 yards (followed by only one penalty for three yards in the second half).

"We knew coming into the game that if we made mistakes, Florida would capitalize," Georgia defensive end Demarcus Dobbs said.

The loss was Georgia's third in its past four games, a slump interrupted only by a victory at Vanderbilt.

"This isn't the way Georgia should play football," Cox said. "I feel bad for everybody in our program because we know how we are supposed to play, and so far, we just haven't clicked at all and gotten it done. It's disappointing."