ATHENS – Well, that certainly was ugly.

Georgia, hoping for an easy tune-up before next week’s SEC collision against No. 6 LSU, struggled against an expected punching bag, North Texas, in Sanford Stadium Saturday. The Dogs led only 21-14 at halftime and found themselves tied 21-21 after having a punt blocked early in the second half, before pulling away and winning 45-21. (That was still short of the 32½-point spread, for those who pay attention to those things ... like me.)

So this wasn’t the day to impress poll voters.

 What does it mean? Hard to say. Sloppiness and emotional letdowns aren’t uncommon against opponents like this, especially when a big game is on the horizon. We’ll find out next week when LSU comes to Athens.

I’ll have a full column posted later on MyAJC.com. Until then, here are my three “Short Takes” on this game:

HERE'S A LINK TO THE FULL COLUMN ON MYAJC.COM

1. “SPECIAL” TEAMS? NOT SO MUCH: Georgia’s defense actually wasn’t awful. The Bulldogs forced punts on all but one North Texas possession (a second-quarter touchdown). But the Bulldogs' special teams were dreadful. They allowed a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown late in the first half and a blocked punt for a touchdown early in the second half. It’s one thing for starting offensive and defensive players to mentally zone out in games against lesser competition. But there is no excuse for those kind of breakdowns on special teams, where most players are battling for regular jobs. That’s also bad foreshadowing for the LSU game, since the Tigers generally excel in special teams.

2. MURRAY REBOUNDS: Quarterback Aaron Murray was terrific in the first two games, continuing his assault on the school's record book. But the third game began with a horrible mistake: an interception in the end zone from second-and-goal at the North Texas 3-yard-line when he tried to force a pass into coverage to Michael Bennett. But he was fine from that point on, leading the offense to touchdown drives on three straight touchdown possessions (including a school-record 98-yarder to freshman receiver Reggie Davis) and finishing with 22-of-30 passing for 408 yards and three touchdown passes. But six punts and two turnovers was probably worse than most expected to see from Georgia's offense. Next week: Murray's showdown against Zach Mettenberger, whom he likely would have beaten out for the starting job as a freshman in the spring before Mettenberger was thrown out of school for sexual misconduct charges. Murray might not be able to afford that kind of mistake against the Tigers.

3. RECEIVERS NOT AN ISSUE: There was a lot of angst in Athens when wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell, Murray's expected No. 1 target, was lost for the season with a knee injury. But the first three games illustrate how deep the Dogs' depth are at receiver. Murray threw to nine different receivers in the game, including three for touchdowns. He had the 98-yard scoring play to Davis, which broke the previous school long of 93 yards (accomplished three times, including one by a guy named Buck Belue to a guy named Lindsay Scott). He also threw touchdown passes Arthur Lynch and Chris Conley.