ATHENS -- After enumerating Georgia's laundry list of injuries on Sunday, coach Mark Richt settled on one word to describe the way it left him feeling.

"Heartbreaking."

The Bulldogs lost four players to injury during Saturday night's 34-31 overtime win over Tennessee in Knoxville. A battery of medical tests on Sunday confirmed the worst possible news for two of them.

Tailback Keith Marshall and wide receiver Justin Scott-Wesley suffered torn anterior cruciate ligament knee injuries and are out for the season. The extent of wide receiver Michael Bennett's knee injury remains uncertain. The junior will undergo an arthoscopy procedure on Tuesday to learn more, but he'll be out at least for this Saturday's game against No. 25 Missouri. The availability of punter Collin Barber, who suffered a concussion, will be determined this week via daily testing.

"It's sad for our players," Richt said. "You see them work so hard and get into position to play for Georgia and realize their dreams of wanting to play in big games like that and try to win championships and all that. There is so much work put in and they play so hard for you and work and practice and all that. When you want to play like that and it's taken away from you, it's just very heartbreaking. I don't know what hurts more, the pain of the injury or knowing you're not going to get to play anymnore for a while. I just feel bad for them."

Meanwhile, the status of tailback Todd Gurley (ankle) and safeties Tray Matthews (hamstring) and Connor Norman (concussion) -- three players who had to sit out against Tennessee -- remains "day-to-day." Richt said the Bulldogs will not place any more urgency on getting Gurley back this week, regardless of the situation at tailback.

"We're not going to push him any faster," Richt said. "We like the two true freshmen backs that have played recently. We think they're good football players. and A.J.'s a talent and Harton and Karempelis have played before. The last thing we want to do is rush the thing on Todd."

True freshman J.J. Green came off the bench Saturday to give the Bulldogs 129 yards on 17 carries. Fellow freshman Brendan Douglas (10-25) also played and Georgia "traveled" freshman A.J. Turman, who did not play. Richt pointed out that they could also turn to walkons Brandon Harton and Kyle Karempelis, who have playing experience.

Of course, the wide receiver position has also been decimated by injuries. The Bulldogs lost their most dynamic wideout, Malcolm Mitchell, in the season opener. Including two other sidelined first-year players, they're down six receivers this week .

Nevertheless, Richt said junior college transfer Jonathan Rumph, who has been out since preseason camp with a hamstring injury, is "very doubtful: to play this week. There has been discussion of activating freshman Tramel Terry, who they want to redshirt as he recovers from reconstructive knee surgery in January, but Richt is skeptical because "he hasn't had a lot of reps with our offensive units.

Likewise, Richt didn't envision any position switches to fill gaps. "We've got to dig deep, give some other guys some opportunities and get them repped up and ready to play," he said.

In the meantime, here comes a red-hot Missouri team to Sanford Stadium (noon, ESPN). The Tigers (5-0, 1-0 SEC) are coming off a 51-28 whipping of Vanderbilt in Nashville, are averaging 46.6 points and 544 yards per game and just entered the Top 25 poll this week. Conversely, Georgia dropped from No. 6 to No. 7 in the USA Today/Coaches' poll released Sunday.

"They're an undefeated team and played well against a good Vanderbilt team," Richt said of the Tigers. "There wasn't a lot of movement in the polls. Most everybody won in the Top 25. . . . As far as where we are, it doesn't matter all that much right this minute. What's important really is to try to score some points and slow Missouri down a little bit."

Georgia remains last in the SEC in points allowed at 32.2 points per game. But Richt doesn't feel like the Bulldogs' offense is having to carry the team.

"I don't think that. I think we're just one team," he said. "We're Georgia and we know that regardless of the situation or score, we're expecting our defense to get stops and our offense to score. Whatever it takes to win is all we're worried about right now."