Georgia coach Mark Richt claimed Tuesday he didn’t have a firm plan yet for what the Bulldogs would be doing 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday. But he knew what they wouldn’t be doing — watching Arkansas and Missouri’s game on television.
The only way Georgia gets to the SEC Championship Game is if Arkansas knocks off the Tigers on Friday (2:30 p.m., CBS). The No. 10 Bulldogs — which beat Missouri 34-0 on Oct. 11 in Columbia — does not play until Saturday when it meets No. 18 Georgia Tech at Sanford Stadium.
“You know, I haven’t looked at it yet,” Richt said of the itinerary. “But we’ll have our normal routine as far as meetings, special teams meetings, offense and defense meetings, walk‑throughs, meals are tied into there. Then, obviously, sooner or later, we’ll get in the bus and we’ll take it on to the team hotel.”
The Bulldogs normally stay at the Chateau Elan resort and spa in Braselton the nights before home games. Otherwise, Friday is usually a light day of walk-throughs and meetings, going over the game plan and reviewing assignments. Usually there is a good bit of down time in which the players are sitting on buses or lounging in their rooms with personal data devices in hand.
To think there won’t be some score-watching is unrealistic.
“Obviously, people are going to be checking the score,” quarterback Hutson Mason said. “I mean, I’d be a liar if I said we weren’t. But our main focus is obviously on beating Tech. It would be a shame if we spent all our emotion and our time and energy focusing on a game we can’t control and come out and don’t take care of business against Georgia Tech. So that really is our main focus right now.”
With Todd Gurley’s saga striking at midseason, the Bulldogs (9-2) have been pretty good at dealing with distractions this season. But their SEC East destiny has been out of their control since losing to Florida on Nov. 1. Now their fate is in Arkansas’ hands.
“It is our fault,” senior receiver Chris Conley told reporters Tuesday. “We put ourselves in this situation. Now we’ve got to deal with it. We have to live with it, and if it shakes out that way then we’ve got to move forward with that. The only thing we can control at this point is what we do this weekend.”
Richt is working overtime to make sure that’s where the Bulldogs’ focus stays.
“I’m not exactly sure what’s going to be on the agenda right at that very moment,” he said of the Missouri game. “But I can tell you this: We’re very focused on (the Georgia Tech) game. That’s really the only thing we can control and it’s the only thing that is worth talking about right now.”
