ATHENS –- The fast start to Isaiah Crowell's college football career drew more notice Monday.
The SEC named the Georgia tailback its Freshman of the Week for the second time this month, and the latest NCAA statistics showed him No. 2 among freshmen nationally in rushing.
Crowell, who shared the SEC's top-freshman honor with Kentucky running back Josh Clemons two weeks earlier, claimed it outright for his performance in Georgia's 27-13 victory at Ole Miss on Saturday. Crowell had 147 rushing yards on 30 carries.
The performance lifted his average rushing yards per game to 102.8, which ranks behind only Bowling Green's Anthon Samuel (107 yards per game) among freshmen on FBS (formerly Division I-A) teams.
Among all players, Crowell and Florida's Chris Rainey are tied for fourth in the SEC in rushing, behind South Carolina's Marcus Lattimore (152.8 yards per game), Alabama's Trent Richardson (110.2) and Auburn's Michael Dyer (106.5).
Robinson return?
Inside linebacker Christian Robinson, sidelined the past two games with a chipped bone in his left foot and a sprained left ankle, is holding out hope of returning to action Saturday against Mississippi State.
"I might end up playing," he said Monday night. "Who knows?"
Robinson said he has been rehabbing extensively and "getting better every day." He is eager to see how much more progress he can make by the weekend.
"[The coaches] will keep me out if they don't think I'm ready, but I'm doing everything I can to get ready," he said.
Jones: ‘Hopefully that's gone'
Last year's game at Mississippi State was perhaps the low point of center Ben Jones' UGA career. Georgia lost, and he was benched in the final minutes because of a clip that injured Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox.
"I wrote him a letter … and sent it to him," Jones said Monday. "I felt bad when I got home. I was, like, ‘Man, that's wrong.' If that had happened to one of my players, I've have been hot. But I apologized and sent it to him the next day. Hopefully that's gone and this is a new year."
Jones is particularly fired up about Saturday's game in Athens.
"Make sure everybody is there, hey, because we're going to have some fun and hope everybody is there to see it," he said.
First trip to Athens
Dan Mullen will be coaching against Georgia for the sixth time Saturday –- the first time in Sanford Stadium.
"It's the only stadium I haven't been to in the SEC," the Mississippi State coach said at his weekly news conference Monday. "I imagine it's going to be a very hostile environment."
Mullen was 3-1 against Georgia in Jacksonville as Florida's offensive coordinator from 2005-2008 and is 1-0 against UGA as Mississippi State's coach, winning 24-12 last season in Starkville.
"I think winning that game really catapulted us into having a great season [9-4] last year," Mullen said.
Rambo on a roll
Bacarri Rambo's two interceptions against Ole Miss gave him the NCAA lead in interceptions per game played (1.33) and earned him Defensive Back of the Week honors from the College Football Performance Awards.
After being suspended from the season opener, Rambo has four interceptions in the past three games –- more picks than any UGA player had in all of last season.
Third-down defense
Georgia's defense is holding opponents to a 25 percent conversion rate on third down -- second best in the SEC (to Florida's 21 percent), fifth best nationally and a marked improvement from last season's 42 percent (79th nationally).
Coach Mark Richt attributes the improvement partly to an off-season visit with Falcons coach Mike Smith.
Richt said he realized in the session with Smith that the Bulldogs were "probably a little short" in the amount of practice time allocated to third-down and red-zone defense, "so we ramped that up."
Night game in Knoxville
Georgia’s Oct. 8 game at Tennessee will start at 7 p.m. and be televised on one of the ESPN networks, it was announced Monday. Which network -- ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU -- will be determined after this week's action.
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