Family, food fill Bulldogs' day off

By Andy Johnston

For the AJC

ATHENS -- Georgia defensive end Demarcus Dobbs plans to take full advantage of the Bulldogs’ first day off this season.

“I’m just going to hang out and not do much,” he said. “I’m going to sit around and be lazy.”

Most of Georgia players are heading to hometowns and home cooking this weekend, but Dobbs is going to stay in Athens to entertain a few friends, watch football and rest for the Bulldogs’ final five games. Georgia (4-3) has played seven consecutive games against BCS schools heading into its bye week.

The Bulldogs play Florida on Oct. 31 to start the final five-game stretch. Florida plays Mississippi State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Linebacker Rennie Curran has a 45-minute drive to his hometown of Snellville, where he said he plans to talk to the Brookwood football players before Friday night’s game against Dacula. Curran graduated from Brookwood in 2007.

“Other than that, I’m just going to try to be a normal kid,” Curran said. “I’m going to spend some time with my family and hang out with them. I’ll probably watch a little bit of the Florida game and watch some other games, but mostly I want to spend time with my family and just relax.”

Tight end Aron White has the same plan, although he must fly to his hometown of Columbia, Mo.

White said he might go to Missouri’s game against Texas on Saturday and has plans to “see some friends and family and eat good.”

“I haven’t taken a whole lot of time off to go back home,” White said. “I took a Maymester course, so I’ve really only been home for the Fourth of July weekend since last Christmas. I just want to go back home and see my family and be in my hometown.”

Georgia coach Mark Richt even has plans to get away. He said he will go see his son, Jon, play quarterback for Mars Hill College on Saturday.

“Whatever it takes to recharge your batteries,” Richt said. “Recharge them. It would be nice if [the players] watched the [Florida-Mississippi State game]. If they don’t want to do that, it’s fine. We’ll get plenty of film of that and be able to show them what we need to show them. I don’t mind them just going fishing. Whatever they want to do.”

Richt on suspensions

Richt didn’t have much to say about the SEC’s suspension of the crew that made controversial calls in last weekend’s Arkansas-Florida game and the LSU-Georgia game on Oct. 3.

“I guess [SEC associate commissioner] Charles Bloom said it was unprecedented, so I guess that in itself was pretty interesting,” Richt said. “I think [SEC coordinator of officials] Rogers Redding and Commissioner [Mike] Slive want things to be done with excellence, and I guess they felt like there was a reason to make that move, to try to ensure the quality of officiating.”

The SEC said the crew, which will not be assigned to another game until Nov. 14, had no reason to call an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on Georgia receiver A.J. Green after he scored the go-ahead touchdown against LSU. The league also said the crew was wrong to call a fourth-quarter personal foul against Arkansas.