The Georgia Bulldogs practiced for two hours Thursday afternoon in full pads before taking the rest of the week off with a rare bye early in the season. They’ll resume practice on Monday.
“I was really pleased with the work we got in today,” coach Mark Richt said. “Actually, we did a good job all week of going through scout work and focusing on fundamentals. The guys were focused and did what they needed to do. When we start practicing again on Monday, we’ll have a great start to our game plan.”
For the first time since the 2002 season — when they also had a week off between games against Clemson and South Carolina — the Bulldogs are off the second weekend of the college football season. Like they did that year, they play on the road against the No. 21 Gamecocks (0-1, 0-1 SEC) at Williams-Brice Stadium in Week 3.
Coaches and players mostly agree it’s a good time to get a break. They’ve had six grueling weeks of intense football work including preseason camp and get an opportunity to work on mistakes made in the opener while getting a jump start on the South Carolina game plan.
“It’s a good combination of both,” Richt said. “We spent a good bit of time (Tuesday) correcting specific mistakes from the game and then the rest of the week was designed to split between good fundamental work, just getting better at blocking and tackling and special teams. But the other part was some scout work against South Carolina.”
Thursday was a closed practice and was spent primarily on preparation for the Gamecocks.
“The more we can get in of the game plan the more time we have to rep it,” Richt said. “You want to get it in as quick as you can, but you don’t want to get it in too fast that you think of something next Wednesday and it’s too late to get reps on it. A little bit of both.”
Richt was happy to get the first week behind the Bulldogs, especially with several national pundits identifying them one of the No. 1 playoff contenders after last Saturday’s 24-point win.
“It’s only Week One,” he said. “It’s like a mirage. It’s not real. It’s something to talk about.”
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