Penalties still a problem for Dogs

Georgia apparently wants back that spot at the bottom of the nation in penalties. The Bulldogs moved up to No. 118 from 119 after a relatively good day against Kentucky last week. But they likely will overtake TCU after Saturday’s debacle in which they were flagged nine times for 95 yards.

“We’ll address it the way we always address it,” coach Mark Richt said.

The latter half of the season that has meant physical punishment — “up-downs” — for the entire team if it is penalized more than five times in a game. Richt considers five an acceptable number of penalties.

There was nothing acceptable about many of Georgia’s penalties on Saturday. The Bulldogs were penalized four times for personal fouls. Two were for late hits by safety Reshad Jones and tailback Richard Samuel on kickoffs. Two other potential personal fouls were offset by Auburn personal fouls on the same play.

Defensive coordinator Willie Martinez pulled Jones out of the game and inserted Bryan Evans at free safety after Jones shoved Kodi Burns on the Auburn sideline.

“I’ve got to look at the tape to see exactly what happened but we’re not happy with it,” Martinez said. “I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus or make a comment on anybody specifically other than to say we don’t want those.”