ATHENS, Ga. -- After a 24-22 home loss to Vanderbilt in October 2006, Georgia football coach Mark Richt decided Matthew Stafford would replace Joe Tereshinski at quarterback.

That remains the last midseason quarterback switch for the Bulldogs, for which Joe Cox is very thankful.

Cox was intercepted three times in Saturday's 41-17 loss to Florida, and Richt wasn't sure after the game if the fifth-year senior from Charlotte was still his starter. Richt didn't have an answer during his Sunday teleconference, but Monday he announced Cox would remain ahead of redshirt sophomore Logan Gray and freshmen Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger.

"I know there are things that I've done that I should have been doing better," Cox said Tuesday. "If there was a change that needed to be made, I understood why."

Cox left a Sunday meeting with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo unsure if he would get the start this week against Tennessee Tech, and he received a text message Monday morning from Bobo that said he needed to see Richt. An admittedly nervous Cox met with Richt around noon.

"When I walked in, Coach Richt was like, 'Were you sweating on the way over here?'" Cox said. "It's a reality check. You've really got to look at yourself and how you've been performing. Now it's just a matter of working hard and finishing these last four weeks hard."

The 6-foot-1, 198-pounder has completed 131 of 229 passes (57.2 percent) for 1,746 yards, with 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Yet since being named the Walter Camp Foundation Player of the Week for his five-touchdown performance Sept. 19 at Arkansas, Cox has thrown seven touchdown passes and nine interceptions.

Richt said he made the announcement Monday because he didn't want this to be a bigger deal than it needed to be.

"We did think it through," he said. "It wasn't like we didn't have the conversation of what should we do. In the end, the premise was 'Who gives Georgia the best chance to win this week and for the rest of the season?' Quite frankly, it was unanimous that Joe still is the guy that we believe can do that for us."

Gray has been guaranteed a series this week, said Richt, who added it's "pretty safe" to project redshirt seasons for Murray and Mettenberger.

The Bulldogs are 97th nationally in total offense and are without sophomore receiver A.J. Green, who suffered a bruised lung against the Gators but is expected back next week against Auburn. Cox believes freshman receiver Rantavious Wooten will step up, and others look to benefit as well.

"Our team doesn't live or die by A.J. Green, but obviously he's a tremendous player who we love having on our team," tight end Aron White said. "Last week we had some success in the running game, and I think we look to build on that. Hopefully we can get our stats up as far as that's concerned."

Said tailback Washaun Ealey: "With A.J. gone, we've got to take it as a challenge in the backfield to pick up the slack."

This week's vote of confidence is the latest chapter in Cox's wacky season. He was almost too sick to play in the opener at Oklahoma State, and there were Internet reports that had him being replaced by Gray before the South Carolina game.

Cox admits the keys to staying upbeat are his teammates -- "This is the best team I've been on as far as guys being behind one another," he said -- and his ability to avoid the computer. His laptop has been broken for a year-and-a-half.

"We have one at the house in Charlotte," he said, "but I tell my dad, 'Don't even think about going on the Internet, because you're just going to get mad.' You don't even know who's talking about you, so it's really just a joke to get caught up in it."