ATHENS -- Georgia coach Mark Richt and his players met with the media at their weekly news conference on Tuesday at the Butts-Mehre football complex. It was an interesting session. The No. 6 Bulldogs are trying to beat back all the adulation they’ve been enjoying from last Saturday’s 44-41 win over LSU and get focused in on what they’re all describing as a dangerous game against Tennessee in Neyland Stadium.

Richt doesn’t believe it should be too hard.

“You don’t ever want to let down, but we’re playing Tennessee so I don’t foresee a letdown,” he said. “If we were playing somebody else, you might start talking that way. But not when you play Tennessee.”

The Vols are 3-2 overall under first-year coach Butch Jones and 0-1 in the SEC after a 31-17 loss at Florida on Sept. 21. They struggled to dispatch South Alabama this past Saturday. They needed an interception by Brian Randolph on fourth-and-goal to preserve a 31-24 victory.

Georgia (3-1, 2-0), on the heels of an electrifying nationally-televised win over then No. 6-LSU, opened as a 10-point favorite over Tennessee and the line had climbed to 10.5 by Tuesday afternoon.

But Richt can recall a similar scenario in 2004. The Bulldogs rolled over defending national champion LSU 45-16 only to fall to the Vols, a 16-point underdog, 19-14 the next week in Athens.

“Going to Knoxville is never easy,” Richt said. “Coaching in this league for 13 years now, I’ve been there a few times and have probably run every gamut of emotion from elation to getting your tail kicked. We know it’s going to be a great atmosphere and there will be over 100,000 people screaming for the Vols. We know we have our work cut out not only to handle the noise and handle the communication aspect of it and the emotional aspect of it, but also we are playing a good football team. Coach (Butch) Jones has them going.”

Here’s some more commentary from Tuesday’s get-together . . .

COACH MARK RICHT

On Todd Gurley’s progress recovering from left-ankle sprain . . .

“I don’t know if he’ll practice or not. I know that he sprained (his ankle) enough to where he couldn’t finish the game, and he’s getting treatment for as long as he can get it and still go to class. I just don’t know. When we say day to day, that’s the best way to describe it because we just don’t know how fast it will heal or how fast the swelling will go down. He was supposed to be on crutches, but I looked out the window and watched him walking with his crutches over his shoulder, so I don’t know if that’s a telltale sign, but hopefully it won’t be too long.”

On Keith Marshall being able to carry the tailback load . . .

“I think (Keith) Marshall is very capable of carrying the load. You talk about carrying the load with 15 or 20 carries, and I think he could do it if he had to. J.J. Green has done a nice job for us when he’s gotten in the game, and we think Brendan Douglas is a very legitimate SEC back. If Todd is not able to go, we can count on those three and then we’ll have to figure out what to do in the fourth position. We’ve had (Kyle) Karempelis play before and A.J. Turman right now has kind of been moving towards a redshirt. We’re not sure exactly what will happen there, but I don’t think this is going to be a long-term enough situation where we start grabbing a guy out of a redshirt.”

On the maturation of the defense . . .

“They’re getting there. Our defense is getting there. I thought we made a lot of progress on first and second down. I thought we won first and second down most of the day, and we got into third and long quite a bit. The problem, obviously, is that we couldn’t get off the field there. If they’re getting first downs on first down and first downs on second down and we can’t even get them to third down, you’re really in trouble. I think we’ve made a lot of progress in stopping the run. We had seven tackles for loss and four sacks (against LSU), so we started to make some good plays. We still have to iron some things out on the perimeter, but that’s just learning, as far as knowing exactly what we want done and how we want it done.”

On targeting rules affecting play of safeties . . .

“There were two plays, quite frankly, where two young safeties weren’t sure what to do at the moment of truth. Should I hit him or should I go for the ball? If I hit him, should I hit him high and get kicked out of the game? I think we were probably thinking too much. I think we over-coached the targeting stuff. I said that you’re allowed to hit them as hard as you want, just don’t hit them in the head and don’t launch at them. Hopefully that will help.”

On the play last Saturday of WB Aaron Murray . . .

“I thought Aaron played good during the game, when the game was over I thought he had played good, and then I watched the film and I thought he played great. He was on top of everything – all the checks, all the protections. The balls were extremely accurate. He had very few balls that were not catchable. I can’t even hardly think of one. There might have been one that wasn’t very good, but he played great. I think what happens is that when you get your expectations so high, unless it’s perfect, you’re not happy. If he was a second year guy, we might say “oh my goodness,” but I think we’re getting to the point where we’re expecting him to hit every target. We expect him to make every check, and we expect him to know the protection all the time, so when he does it, it’s not that big of a deal. After I remove myself from it and looked at it as a coach and watched every single snap, I was really impressed with the guy.”

On Tennessee planning to wear new gray uniforms . . .

“We’ve had it where when you win, (the new uniforms) are a great idea and when you lose, it’s a bad idea. When you win, everyone loves them and wants you to do it again. When you lose, they want to burn them. You can’t even give them away. That goes for helmets, too. When we first did it that night when we played Auburn (in 2007), it was electric. Of course, we sprang it on the team. They didn’t know. Our seniors knew, but no one else knew. There was that element of surprise, and there was a lot of steam in that locker room. Literally. I didn’t even say anything. If I said something, I would have messed it up. I do remember that year.”

On Tennessee head coach Butch Jones . . .

“He’s a tough, hard-nosed human being and a tough, hard-nosed coach. He’s very good at what he does. You don’t get to Tennessee without having some success along the way. Everywhere he’s been, he’s done a super job. I’ve been very impressed with what he’s been doing. When I first came to Georgia, I’m looking for a way to have our players buy in and have our fans buy in. You do everything you possibly can, and the best way to get people to buy in is to get a great signature victory against a top-10 or a ranked team. That’s what they’re banging away for right now.”

On high-scoring offense . . .

“I don’t know if we’re mismatching anybody. I don’t know if our players are that phenomenal where we’re just dominating people off the line of scrimmage or breaking away free. I think collectively, they know what they’re doing and they’re very good football players. They’re good route runners, and they’re good at knowing what to do. They work well as a team, and they have a quarterback that really understands it all. Coach Bobo has done a tremendous job of putting it all together, scheme-wise, and just executing. It’s like I told them – I don’t think we’re that good where we can just show up and win without really being honed in and without really being focused. I don’t know if we can just say, ‘Hey we’re Georgia, and we’re going to whip you.’ We’ve got to have the right type of focus and the right type of mental frame of mind to get the job done, so that’s what we’re pushing for each week.”

On facing former Georgia assistants Willie Martinez and John Jancek . . .

“They’re both great guys and great coaches. I’m happy for their success and their ability to be at a place like Tennessee. It’s a great job, and they’re doing a great job.”

GEORGIA PLAYERS

QB Aaron Murray

On avoiding a letdown . . .

“I think we are feeling great. We have a lot of momentum. I think the biggest thing is that we have great leadership and our leaders are really going to have to step up right now and make sure guys are staying focused. We’ve been practicing our tails off in practice, just getting after it, working and training hard, staying very focused in meetings and on the field. I think that’s why we’ve been successful, because we are putting the work in right now.”

On approaching the SEC passing TD record . . .

“It’s definitely an honor. It’s crazy to think about. I’ve never been a guy who’s worried about stats. It’s all about winning, winning, winning. But it’s definitely an honor to be alongside some of those guys like Greene and Wuerffel, guys who did some unbelievable things while they were at their colleges.”

WR Chris Conley

About Tennessee’s gray uniforms . . .

 “It depends on the team, it depends on the player. Certain players get motivated by certain things, so for some of their guys it could be a confidence boost and an adrenaline rush to help them execute. But when it really comes down to it a uniform is a uniform and it’s going to come down to who’s ready to play Saturday.”

TE Arthur Lynch

On the danger of a letdown against an unranked Tennessee team . . .

“I think there definitely is, and I think that’s where it takes guys like myself and the other senior leaders to be like, look, this is the SEC. For some of you freshman that LSU game was one of the most emotional games you will ever play in, but this is not the time to rest on your laurels. You have seven days and you play another tough opponent in Knoxville, that’s just how it goes. For us, that’s what we’re going to press all week. This team is dangerous, they have a new coach, they’re hungry for a big win, and they could turn their season around with a win against a top-ten opponent. We just have stay headstrong and stay focused.”

SS Connor Norman

On continued improvement of secondary . . .

“We’re working with the young guys. They’re getting a whole lot thrown at them really fast here. It’s our jobs, as older guys, to help them get more familiar with everything going on. Relaying communication is a big deal out there because guys on the other side of the field aren’t able to look across the sidelines. In the secondary the safeties have to communicate with the corners and the corners have to communicate back with the safeties to make sure that everybody is on the same page. . . . We’ve played four games so far, so they aren’t freshmen anymore. They’re growing up. They’re getting better.”

WR Justin Scott-Wesley:

On the Tennessee environment . . .

“I think it’s going to be crazy. We’re on offense and they’re going to be trying to distract us. The band’s going to be playing. Rocky Top is going to be playing. Orange will be everywhere. It’s going to be crazy. I heard they have new jerseys, too, so they are going to be amped up.”

DE Garrison Smith

On watching the game winning drive against LSU from the sideline…

“It was amazing. Murray looked like Tom Brady out there. He was leading the troops and marching them down the field. They made some big plays, man. That’s what it’s all about. I’m proud of him and that he did that. That was last week though and we have to do something again this week. That’s in the past and we have another game on Saturday and we have to handle business.”

On how the defensive line has embraced Chris Wilson as a coach…

“Everybody is on board. He’s a great guy to be around. He’s a great coach. Everybody is listening to him and that’s the most important thing. We’ve got guys that are really buying in to what he’s been preaching since the spring, when he got here. It’s all clicking. We’re getting better every week. It’s improvement and that’s what it’s come down to every day. We just seem to get better.”