What next for the Bulldogs?

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Georgia Bulldogs reacquainted themselves Sunday with life atop this state's college football rivalry while also wondering what comes next.

"Oh, man, it's feeling good," Georgia linebacker Rennie Curran said.  "I went to the Falcons game and a couple of Georgia Tech fans were there giving me some nasty looks. It was good to have the upper hand and everything."

Tech defeated Georgia last season to end the Bulldogs' seven-game winning streak in the series and claim a year's worth of bragging rights. Such rights reverted to the Dogs when they upset the Yellow Jackets 30-24 Saturday night.

The win provided the highlight of a difficult UGA season, but left two immediate questions hanging over the Bulldogs:

• Which bowl will they play in?

• And what changes will coach Mark Richt make to his  staff?

The victory over Tech expanded the Dogs' bowl possibilities, which would have been limited to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport or the Papajohn's.com Bowl in Birmingham had they lost. With the victory, add Nashville's Music City Bowl and Atlanta's Chick-fil-A Bowl to the Dogs' possibilities.

"Before that win, they were not in our selection process," Chick-fil-A Bowl president Gary Stokan said Sunday. "After the win, they are certainly in the discussion."

Ten SEC teams are eligible for bowls and six of them, including Georgia, have 7-5 records.

The winner of Saturday's SEC Championship Game between Florida (12-0) and Alabama (12-0) will go to the BCS title game and the loser to the Sugar Bowl. LSU (9-3) is expected to go to the Capital One Bowl. Ole Miss (8-4) and Tennessee (7-5) appear to be the top candidates for the Cotton and Outback bowls.

That would leave five 7-5 teams -- Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas and Auburn -- to be divvied up by the Chick-fil-A, Liberty, Music City, Independence and Papajohn's bowls. The Chick-fil-A gets the top choice from the conference among the five bowls.

Asked how his bowl will choose from a bevy of 7-5 teams, Stokan said: "That's a great question and I've got to start going through the information. .. I just don't have any idea what we're going to do right now."

Georgia probably won't know its destination until Sunday, bowl selection day.

Meanwhile, UGA players, like the rest of Bulldog Nation, await word on what changes Richt might make to his coaching staff.

"I just feel bad for them," defensive tackle Jeff Owens said of assistant coaches whose jobs are rumored to be in jeopardy, "and I hope everything turns out positive for them. .. It would [stink] to see one of my coaches leave."

Players say they have not been informed of any impending change, but a shakeup has been rumored for weeks, with defensive coordinator Willie Martinez and other defensive coaches at the center of the speculation.

Shortly before the start of the Tech game, former Georgia defensive great David Pollack posted on Twitter:  "It does appear that Willie Martinez will not be back next year. Will be an interesting next 46 hours to see what happens." An hour later, Pollack tweeted: "Just to be clear, I'm not saying Willie should be fired and I'm just telling you what I keep hearing."

Asked late Saturday night about his future, Martinez said: "I'm at Georgia. Get ready to prepare for the next ballgame."

In the glow of the upset victory, Richt said nothing to douse the rumors.

"I know we've got some areas we need to improve in," he said, "but right now I'm just going to enjoy this victory."

Speaking more generally, Richt said: "As I look back, I've never had a season where the turnover ratio was just so poor. I think if you just take that one thing and make it break-even, we'd probably win two or three more games. ... There's definitely some things we need to correct, but  I think everything is correctable. ... It's a season of self-inflicted wounds and that's my responsibility to make sure we do better."

Richt was not available for further comment Sunday. UGA officials said he was out of town for a family function.

Richt said previously that the team probably would hold two bowl practices this week, but UGA said Sunday the plan now is for no practices this week.