Dogs ‘want to finish up strong'

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATHENS –- Georgia's football team enters the final quarter of a disappointing season this week, looking at the upcoming three-game stretch as one last chance to salvage something from the wreckage.

The Bulldogs (5-4) need to win one of the three games to become eligible for a bowl and need to win all three to ensure extending their nation-leading streak of 12 consecutive seasons of eight-plus victories.

Perhaps more important than those tidbits: Two of the three games come against storied rivals –- Saturday against Auburn in Sanford Stadium and Nov. 28 against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. (In between: a Nov. 21 home game against Kentucky.)

"We want to finish up strong for us, because we've worked hard enough to deserve that," quarterback Joe Cox said before practice Sunday.

Clinching bowl eligibility "would be a big weight off our shoulders," Cox said, "but we don't want to just be bowl-eligible. We want to play in the best bowl we can possibly be in. . . . We want to play in a game that will be something fun and something to be proud of, and the only way to do that is to take care of these last three games."

Added linebacker Christian Robinson: "We're really excited about being able to change our season as a whole in the next few games. If we're able to go out and play Georgia football, we should be able to finish with a good record and be remembered as a team that persevered through some really hard times."

The stretch begins with a 7-3 Auburn team that on Sunday moved into the USA Today coaches' poll at No. 25. Like Georgia, which beat Tennessee Tech 38-0 on Saturday, Auburn is coming off a rout of a Division I-AA opponent: 63-31 over Furman.

Mere minutes after the Tennessee Tech game, Georgia coach Mark Richt began trumpeting the Auburn match up.

"Saturday night, 7 o'clock!" he said. "I would think our fans would be really excited about this thing."

The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

The penalty problem

Richt was undecided Sunday on his next step toward combating Georgia's two-year-old penalty problem.

He tried a new approach last week, immediately pulling players from the game when they committed infractions and keeping them on the sideline for the rest of the series. Nevertheless, Georgia exceeded its season average by committing 11 penalties for 86 yards.

"I'm not sure what I'll do in that regard [this week]," Richt said Sunday. He said it might not be "wise" to bench players for a series, but said he might pull them for at least a play or so.

He said the players are "as aware of [the problem with penalties] as anything you can be aware of. Everybody is on the rampage about them."

The penalties against Tennessee Tech included six false starts by Georgia's offensive line.

"We can't let things happen like that," left tackle Clint Boling said Sunday. "We've got to know the snap count. We've just got to get better at it, and I'm sure we'll work on that this week."

Georgia ranks 118th out of 120 major-college teams in yards penalized per game (78.56).

Injury report

Richt said he still expects wide receiver A.J. Green, sidelined last week with a bruised lung, to be back in action against Auburn.

Defensive end Justin Houston, out last week with an elbow injury, also is expected back, Richt said.