ATHENS, Ga. — After committing 11 penalties for 70 yards in Saturday’s 45-21 opening win over Georgia Southern, the Georgia Bulldogs are the second-most flagged team in Southeastern Conference football behind Florida.
Georgia coach Mark Richt can live with that, at least for this week.
“There were nine or 10 that were very correctable,” Richt said Tuesday. “Guys jumping offsides. Guys in the neutral zone. If you play hard and you’re blocking and you end up with a holding call, we don’t get too bent out of shape about that.”
Early in the second quarter, Bulldogs senior defensive end Jeremy Lomax was penalized for being offside on two consecutive snaps.
“If it happens again like that as far as neutral-zone issues, then I’ll definitely be more upset than I was this first time around,” Richt said.
Tabs on Tennessee
Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford admitted he was somewhat surprised by Tennessee’s 27-24 overtime loss Monday night at UCLA.
“UCLA’s defensive tackles were tough,” Stafford said. “I knew about the Bosworth twins (defensive end Korey and linebacker Kyle) because I played against them in high school. Take away a couple of missed field goals and that (Arian Foster) fumble, and it’s obviously a different story.”
Richt said he wasn’t surprised by the outcome, noting that UCLA is a fine program that recruits well.
“I think people can get sidetracked by preseason rankings,” he said. “There may be a team ranked 40th right now that is just as good as a team in the top 10. You just don’t know.”
Play to remember
After reviewing video of the opener, Richt said one of his favorite plays was a long Caleb King run in the second half. Richt described right guard Cordy Glenn taking one player out, receiver Tavarres King containing another 30 yards downfield and King making people miss.
“Three freshmen on the same clip,” he said. “That really encouraged me. Everybody else was playing good, but they all did something stellar on the same play.”
Richt said Glenn led the line in knockdown blocks.
Leave me alone
Sophomore tailback Knowshon Moreno is often the team’s most energized player, but he cramped up on his 24-yard touchdown run 46 seconds into the third quarter and bent over in the end zone. Fortunately for Moreno, there was not the celebration that normally accompanies one of his scores.
“They just knew,” Moreno said of his approaching teammates. “Everyone knew it wasn’t that bad. It was just so hot out.”
Odds and ends
Richt expects sophomore Clint Boling to play right tackle or right guard throughout Saturday’s game because he doesn’t want Glenn and right tackle Justin Anderson in at the same time due to their youth. ... Central Michigan has lost all six games against SEC teams, going 0-5 against Kentucky and 0-1 against Florida. ... Asked how he felt about being sixth nationally in pass efficiency, Stafford joked, “Not for long.” ... New starting defensive tackle Corvey Irvin has been named a team captain for this week and was the most productive player defensively against the Eagles. ... With a 1-0 record, Uga VII is Georgia’s winningest mascot percentage. Uga I had the worst percentage after watching Georgia go 53-48-6 from 1956-67. ... Lomax (turf toe) wore a green, noncontact jersey Tuesday but is expected to be fine for Saturday. ... Freshman DeAngelo Tyson and sophomore Brandon Wood worked Tuesday as the second-team defensive tackles.
