ATHENS - Georgia coach Mark Richt said something interesting when he was interviewed Monday by Chuck Dowdle on the Bulldog Roundtable radio show in 680 The Fan. He said he thought the Bulldogs’ young safeties might be playing less aggressively when defending receivers over the middle for fear of being ejected from the game via the NCAA’s new targeting rule.

Talking about the LSU game this past weekend, in which Zach Mettenberger threw for 372 yards and threw touchdowns, Richt said:

“There were a couple of balls thrown down the middle where, quite frankly, our safeties in my opinion have been coached so hard on this targeting rule that they’re not sure what to do when they get there," Richt said. "A couple of times they were there and they didn’t know what to do or how to. I mean, we teach them, but when you’re used to doing something a certain way you’re whole career, then all of the sudden you’re trying to play in such a way that you don’t get this foul and get thrown out of the game, there’s a moment of truth there where we didn’t pull the trigger. We need to continue to play aggressively without breaking any rules.”

I spoke to freshman safety Tray Matthews about this issue Monday night and he confirmed Richt’s suspicions. In fact, he said was warned by referees during the game to be mindful of the rule and stop leading with his head on tackles.

“Me and Quincy Mauger, we definitely had maybe two or three chances – I know I had maybe had one shot – of knocking (the receiver’s) helmet off,” Matthews said. “But I let up because the referee had already told me about the rule in the game. He was telling me to watch where I aim my head. He said on a couple of plays I was leading head first. And he was like, ‘we will kick you out for that.’ So one of those plays I actually did let up when I could have just knocked the receiver out and knocked the play out probably.”

Matthews said he let up on the 39-yard touchdown pass from Mettenberger to Jarvis Landry  on a post route late in the third quarter. That tied the game at 27.

“I was coming from the other side of the field, but I probably could have got there, but I let up,” Matthews said.

Mauger said he also let up when he had a play on a receiver catching the ball over the middle. And he thinks it’s part of the reason offenses are putting up such big numbers early on this season.

“It’s definitely had an effect over the whole NCAA,” said Mauger, a freshman from Marietta. “It’s kind of hard for a safety to go from being able to make big impact plays to having to second-guess a play. But we’ve still got to be aggressive towards the ball. That’s it, really.”

Matthews was recruited by Georgia and dozens of other schools because of his penchant for separating receivers from the ball and coming up and hitting hard in run support. He said he understands that the rule is if for the safety of both the receiver and the defender.

He also admitted that the new rule works from the standpoint that the fear of ejection from the game keeps him from playing the way that comes natural to him.

“I want to keep playing; I told the coaches that, too,” Matthews said. “I told my DB coach (Scott Lakatos) I kind of let up because I didn’t want to get thrown out of the game. . . . From now on I think I might just go ahead and send a message and go ahead and do it. Just play ball. Coach Richt says, ‘just play ball.’”